Beijing: A new poll has established that the attitude of the Chinese people towards wildlife is changing, with over 90 per cent of the respondents supporting the existing ban on tiger trade. The result of the poll conducted among 1,880 people from seven major Chinese cities was revealed in Beijing on January 27, in an event by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to launch a website named ‘love tigers (www.ilaohu.org)’ dedicated to tiger conservation.

Respondents, who statistically represent the entire adult populations of the seven cities, were asked questions about their use of tiger products, their preferences for products from wild versus farmed tigers and their attitudes toward conservation of wild tigers and China’s 1993 tiger-trade ban.

“The results of this survey present the strikingly clear message that most Chinese people care so much about wild tigers that they are willing to change behaviours that threaten survival of tigers in the wild,” said Judy Mills of Save The Tiger Fund, which commissioned the study. “With this strong support from the Chinese people, wild tigers can survive and thrive,” she added.

Following about two decades of worldwide ban, China yielded to international pressure and enforced the tiger trade ban in 1993. After 15 years of enforcement, the survey conducted by Horizon Key, one of China’s pre-eminent public polling companies showed that about 50 per cent of the respondents claimed to have used products containing tiger parts. More than half of the users expressed preference for products from wild as compared to captive bred tigers. Over 65 per cent users preferred medicines from wild tigers. About 75 per cent preferred tiger tonic made from the bones of wild tigers.

China has about 5,000 ‘farmed’ tigers, the highest in the world, and has only about 50 wild tigers. Businessmen involved in tiger farming have been lobbying for a relaxation of the ban on tiger trade, arguing that new strategy i.e. reopening tiger trade would be needed to save wild tigers, as the farmed tigers would be used to supply the demand. However, experts say and now the poll proves that there would still be market for wild tigers. Moreover, the cost of raising a tiger in the farm, about USD4000, far exceeds the cost of poaching wild tiger in the developing countries, about USD20, making wild products available at a cheaper rate.

“The preference for products from wild tigers documented by this survey confirm our fears that lifting China’s ban will send the message to poachers that it’s open season on tigers, which would be disastrous for wild tigers,” said Grace Gabriel of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

The survey spanning Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Guilin, Harbin, Kunming and Shanghai also showed a reduction in the number of medicine stores that stocked and sold tiger products. While, a survey conducted in 1994 had about 18 per cent, the new survey showed a drop to about three per cent. The primary use of tiger products in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is to remedy arthritic conditions. The use however is being gradually shunned. The TCM community has won praise from conservationists for finding and embracing effective alternatives.  TCM has been used in China for centuries and has over the past few decades come to face the ire of the wildlife conservationists for use of endangered fauna parts in their production.

About 77 per cent of the respondents believed that maintaining the ban was important to China’s image. All of the 171 signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) had in June 2007 voted against tiger farming.