Allegations that tigers imported from Thailand to China were
used to make aphrodisiacs are groundless, say Thai and Chinese
company representatives and officials.
“All of the tigers are intact and in good condition at the
breeding center and more than 50 cubs have been born since they
arrived,” Maitree Temsiripone, president of Sanya Maitree Concept
Co. Ltd., said on Wednesday.
Sanya Maitree Concept is the Sino-Thai joint venture in Sanya,
Hainan
Province, that arranged for the importation of 100 Bengal
tigers from Thailand to a Hainan breeding center 16 months ago.
In recent days, allegations have surfaced in the Thai media that
some of the tigers were slaughtered to make aphrodisiacs.
Maitree said the company is building a Love World Theme Park in
the tropical city for the animals, which will serve as a research
center for breeding the endangered animals as well as a tourism
venue. It will open to the public in October.
The tigers were shipped to China on December 24, 2002, as part
of a joint project proposed by former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji
during a 2001 visit to Thailand. However, the Royal Forest
Department of Thailand was accused at the time of violating
international wildlife treaties by approving the shipment.
Tigers are protected by the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES), which allows the animals to be kept for
breeding, research and protection.
Maitree said tigers were imported from Indonesia, Germany and
the United States as well as Thailand, and all were imported for
breeding and scientific research.
A government-sponsored tiger research center has ambitious plans
to breed hundreds of animals in the next five years and eventually
release some into the wild.
Senior officials from the Hainan provincial government and the
Hainan Tourism Bureau said on Wednesday in Bangkok that China has
been cracking down on the trading and killing of protected wildlife
and any attempt to smuggle and slaughter protected animals will be
punished.
The officials said allegations that Sanya Maitree Concept is
manufacturing aphrodisiacs from dead imported tigers are
“groundless.”
An official from the State Administration of Forestry, China’s
top wildlife protection authority, said its position and further
information on the issue will be released at a special press
conference on June 10.
On Tuesday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra fended off
accusations that Thailand illegally sold 100 tigers to China for
commercial purposes, saying that China had convinced him that the
sale of the tigers formed part of a wider Thai-Chinese tourism
promotion program, the Thai News Agency reported on Wednesday.
The prime minister made the statement after Thai legislators
launched an investigation into the shipment of the animals in
March.
(China Daily May 14, 2004)