🐅 South African tiger farms illegally smuggling body parts, says charity
The largest tiger farms outside Asia are operating freely in South Africa, facilitating the illegal smuggling of tiger body parts, according to a report by an animal welfare charity.
Research by Four Paws, which is campaigning to shut down South Africa’s big cat industry, found 103 places in the country where tigers were kept in captivity in 2023 or 2024 or had been kept during the previous three years.
Several facilities were breeding tigers to sell their body parts to China or Vietnam for use in traditional medicine, the report said, identifying three networks it said were known or suspected to be involved.
Members of one network of “interlinked criminal syndicates” posted photos on social media advertising “tiger products”, which the report said were suspected to be tiger bone glue.
In another photo that the report included in anonymised form, network members claimed they were cooking tigers somewhere in South Africa.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/13/south-african-tiger-farms-illegally-smuggling-bones-asia-charity
The largest tiger farms outside Asia are operating freely in South Africa, facilitating the illegal smuggling of tiger body parts, according to a report by an animal welfare charity.
Research by Four Paws, which is campaigning to shut down South Africa’s big cat industry, found 103 places in the country where tigers were kept in captivity in 2023 or 2024 or had been kept during the previous three years.
Several facilities were breeding tigers to sell their body parts to China or Vietnam for use in traditional medicine, the report said, identifying three networks it said were known or suspected to be involved.
Members of one network of “interlinked criminal syndicates” posted photos on social media advertising “tiger products”, which the report said were suspected to be tiger bone glue.
In another photo that the report included in anonymised form, network members claimed they were cooking tigers somewhere in South Africa.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/13/south-african-tiger-farms-illegally-smuggling-bones-asia-charity