China issues permits to trade in the bones of hundreds of leopards

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China issues permits to trade in the bones of hundreds of leopards

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BY ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY - 29 JUNE 2018

Leopards are Asia’s most trafficked big cat, with more than 4,900 seized from illegal trade in Asia since 2000 – but despite this, new evidence indicates the Government of China is issuing permits to trade and use their bones.

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Illegal killing for their body parts is one of the main threats to the survival of leopards in the wild. The number of animals seized from trade most likely represents a mere fraction of the parts being trafficked.

Leopards have been listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix I since 1975, its highest level of protection.

The illegal trade in leopard bones is primarily to meet demand from Chinese consumers; it is used in similar ways to tiger bone, steeped in rice wine to produce health tonics and used to produce traditional ‘medicines’.

Leopard bone has also been used in production of products similar to those which would traditionally have contained tiger.

Despite the dire straits in which the leopard finds itself, a copy of a permit posted online appears to show that, on 16 March 2018, China’s State Forestry Administration (SFA) gave permission for an individual acting on behalf of a pharmaceutical company, Sichuan Qianfang Chinese Medicine Stock Co Ltd, to sell 1,230.5kg of leopard bone to a second company, Inner Mongolia Hongmao Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, to use in production of Chinese medicine products. The authenticity of the permit is confirmed by the SFA’s own website.

Hongmao Pharmaceutical manufactures a widely available ‘tonic’ wine, Hongmao Yaojiu, which includes leopard bone among its ingredients. Figures declared by the company indicate it may be using the bones of 90-130 of leopards every year.

Given the amount of leopard bone involved and the small size of China’s leopard population, it is highly likely the bones in question were sourced illegally from leopards killed outside China.

It has since emerged in Chinese news media that, according to local authorities, the seller declined to provide the necessary proof of legal origin of the leopard bone. Despite this, Government authorities sanctioned the sale.

Hongmao Yaojiu is just one of at least 35 medicinal products which list leopard bone as an ingredient and which appear to be being manufactured and sold in China.

When China revised its Wildlife Protection Law in 2016, we raised serious concerns about loopholes which allowed legal trade in protected species for the purpose of “scientific research, captive breeding, public exhibition or performances, heritage conservation or other special purposes”.

This case appears to demonstrate how the heritage conservation loophole is now being exploited to sanction large-scale, commercial trade in leopard products – a loophole which could just as easily be used for trade in tigers, elephants and rhinos.

By continuing to allow legal trade in their bones, China is helping to maintain and stimulate the demand for leopard parts which is a major factor driving their decline.

Original article: https://eia-international.org/china-iss ... s-leopards


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Re: China issues permits to trade in the bones of hundreds of leopards

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0:

And our local tinpots also each need a leopard skin or two...thousands of them! 0*\


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Re: China issues permits to trade in the bones of hundreds of leopards

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:evil: :evil:


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Re: China issues permits to trade in the bones of hundreds of leopards

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Bone trade: Are Africa’s leopards next?

Posted on 24 July, 2018 by Simon Espley in Opinion Editorial, Wildlife and the Opinion Editorial post series.

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© Simon Espley

Opinion post: Written by Simon Espley, CEO of Africa Geographic

It has recently been reported by the Environmental Investigation Agency that China is issuing permits to trade in leopard bones for use in Chinese medicinal products, despite there not being enough leopards left in that country to supply the trade volumes on the permits. And it appears that the sale was sanctioned by the state despite the seller not providing the required proof of legal origin of the leopard bones being traded. It does not take a genius to work out that the supply of leopard bones has and will in future come from outside of China.

Africa has the largest wild leopard population. Connect the dots …

We know that the South African government is openly supportive of the trade in big cat body parts – as evidenced by their backing of the lion bone trade industry. The lion bone trade works hand-in-glove with the murky cub petting, lion walking and canned hunting industries to turn our lions into commodities. Read here about the recently-announced increase in the South African lion bone export quota to 1,500 skeletons, from 800 the previous year.

Would it be wild speculation to wonder whether leopard breeding farms are on the horizon for the South African wildlife industry? Hopefully this is not the case, bearing in mind that leopards are not the free breeders in captivity that lions are, and have smaller litters. Even if leopard breeding farms are not on the cards, this move by China still represents a clear and present threat to our wild leopard population – considering the likely scale of demand and the ruthless efficiency of the wildlife poaching industry.

According to the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), leopards have lost 63-75% of their worldwide historic range, and 80% in South Africa, and leopard numbers are declining across their range. Leopards are listed as Vulnerable on both the global IUCN Red List and the Red List of Mammals of South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho.

According to SANBI and IUCN, the key ongoing threats include habitat loss and fragmentation, prey depletion, human-wildlife conflict, unsustainable trophy hunting (there is currently a zero-quota for trophy hunting in South Africa), poaching for skins and body parts, and indiscriminate killing. SANBI suggests an 8% decline in the national population per year, and significant declines in leopard density in five out of 18 sites surveyed in 2017.

Surely Africa’s remaining leopards cannot survive any further pressure, let alone China calling for leopard bones to supply the insatiable Asian markets, and the inevitable resultant increase in poaching pressure and commercial exploitation?


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Re: China issues permits to trade in the bones of hundreds of leopards

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:evil:


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Re: China issues permits to trade in the bones of hundreds of leopards

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One day they prohibit the trade of ivory and the next they permit the trade of leopard bones. It has no sense 0- 0-


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