KashifAsrar
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The news was qouted by TOI dated 13th March 2007.
Kashif
China farm that turns tigers into wine
Park Claims It Has 140 Big Cats In Freezer; Visitors Can Dine On Strips Of Stir-Fried Tiger
Danny Penman
King, the Siberian tiger, stares at me through the bars of his cage. His two beautiful, graceful companions pace back and forth across their tiny compound. They look crushingly bored. The most exciting thing they can do is paw mournfully at the dirty pools of rainwater on the floor of their cage.
Although the Xiongsen tiger park, near Guilin in south-east China, appears to be a depressingly typical Third World zoo, with a theme park restaurant and open areas where tigers roam, it actually hides a far more sinister secret: it's a factory farm breeding tigers to be eaten and to be made into wine. In row upon row of sheds, hundreds of tigers are incarcerated in battery-like cages which they never leave until they are slaughtered.
Visitors to the park can dine on strips of stir-fried tiger with ginger and Chinese vegetables. Also on the menu are tiger soup and a spicy red curry made with tenderised strips of the big cat. Visitors can wash it all down with a glass or two of wine made from Siberian tiger bones.
A waitress at the farmââ¬â¢s restaurant tells me proudly: ââ¬ÅThe tiger meat is produced here. Itââ¬â¢s our business. When government officials come here, we kill a tiger for them so they have fresh meat. Other visitors are given meat from tigers killed in fights. We now have 140 tigers in the freezer. We also sell lion meat, bearââ¬â¢s paw, crocodile and snake. The bearââ¬â¢s paw has to be ordered in advance as it takes a long time to cook.ââ¬Â
The waitress clearly does not care that she is selling meat and wine from endangered species. She is not worried that selling them is against Chinese and international law, and helps to fuel the poaching that is driving tigers to extinction. Tigers and other endangered species are being reared on an industrial scale throughout China, despite international treaties forbidding this. Three factory farms breeding tigers in China were discovered. The Guilin farm alone has 1,300 tigers, including the incredibly rare and elusive Siberian sub-species.
It rears and slaughters Bengal, South China and White tigers. More than 300 African lions and 400 Asiatic black bears are also reared here for food and traditional Chinese medicines. The Chinese authorities claim that farms like the one at Guilin are a vital part of the countryââ¬â¢s conservation efforts, and that they will one day release them back into the wild. But my visit to the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village shows their real intention could not be more different. For the fact is that these animals could never survive in the wild. DAILY MAIL, LONDON
Kashif
China farm that turns tigers into wine
Park Claims It Has 140 Big Cats In Freezer; Visitors Can Dine On Strips Of Stir-Fried Tiger
Danny Penman
King, the Siberian tiger, stares at me through the bars of his cage. His two beautiful, graceful companions pace back and forth across their tiny compound. They look crushingly bored. The most exciting thing they can do is paw mournfully at the dirty pools of rainwater on the floor of their cage.
Although the Xiongsen tiger park, near Guilin in south-east China, appears to be a depressingly typical Third World zoo, with a theme park restaurant and open areas where tigers roam, it actually hides a far more sinister secret: it's a factory farm breeding tigers to be eaten and to be made into wine. In row upon row of sheds, hundreds of tigers are incarcerated in battery-like cages which they never leave until they are slaughtered.
Visitors to the park can dine on strips of stir-fried tiger with ginger and Chinese vegetables. Also on the menu are tiger soup and a spicy red curry made with tenderised strips of the big cat. Visitors can wash it all down with a glass or two of wine made from Siberian tiger bones.
A waitress at the farmââ¬â¢s restaurant tells me proudly: ââ¬ÅThe tiger meat is produced here. Itââ¬â¢s our business. When government officials come here, we kill a tiger for them so they have fresh meat. Other visitors are given meat from tigers killed in fights. We now have 140 tigers in the freezer. We also sell lion meat, bearââ¬â¢s paw, crocodile and snake. The bearââ¬â¢s paw has to be ordered in advance as it takes a long time to cook.ââ¬Â
The waitress clearly does not care that she is selling meat and wine from endangered species. She is not worried that selling them is against Chinese and international law, and helps to fuel the poaching that is driving tigers to extinction. Tigers and other endangered species are being reared on an industrial scale throughout China, despite international treaties forbidding this. Three factory farms breeding tigers in China were discovered. The Guilin farm alone has 1,300 tigers, including the incredibly rare and elusive Siberian sub-species.
It rears and slaughters Bengal, South China and White tigers. More than 300 African lions and 400 Asiatic black bears are also reared here for food and traditional Chinese medicines. The Chinese authorities claim that farms like the one at Guilin are a vital part of the countryââ¬â¢s conservation efforts, and that they will one day release them back into the wild. But my visit to the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village shows their real intention could not be more different. For the fact is that these animals could never survive in the wild. DAILY MAIL, LONDON
