Lions are known as majestic creatures, however, off late their numbers have been dwindling thanks to the princely sums their bones are collecting in the international illegal wildlife market. Lion bones are being sold between $300 and $500 for a kilogram, as a substitute for tiger bones says a new report.
Traditional Chinese medicines use tiger bones as a cure for a number of ailments and with the number of this animal declining, lion bones have become the new substitute. These are the findings of the Empower Foundation, a Mumbai based NGO working on Sanjay Gandhi National Park’s man-animal conflict.
Lions if not Tigers
The study found that eight lions were killed in Gir by poachers from Madhya Pradesh in 2007. Investigations by the CID (crime) officials closed up with the arrest of several poachers including Sarkas Lal, leader of this gang. CID officials had concluded then that the lion bones were passed off as tiger bones and were smuggled to China as requirement for “medicinal purposes.”
The report submitted to the Government mentioned that South Africa was the leading supplier and had been supplying a large volume of lion bones to mainly Laos, Vietnam and China. LionAid, an organization which works extensively into lion conservation issued a warning against this trade. They warned that such trade would stimulate demand and hence increase the poaching of lions. The South African trade mainly involved canned lion hunters, lion breeders and taxidermists. The estimated value of a lion skeleton could be more than $10,000.
Wild Medicines
The demand for animal parts in South East Asia has imperiled a variety of animals around the world. Specially at risk are animals like tigers, lions, bears, pangolin that are already very rare and even a single kill propels the entire population towards the extinction path.
According to The Guardian Asian traders started taking an interest in South African lions in 2008, when the decline in tiger numbers – now in danger of extinction – became acute. In traditional Chinese medicine, tiger wine, made using powdered bones, allegedly cures many ills including ulcers, cramp, rheumatism, stomach ache and malaria. The beverage is also claimed to have tonic qualities, boosting virility.
In 2007 Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), noted how the last Asiatic lions of Sasan Gir were at risk of being poached for their bones.
“This serious new development points to the fact that since tigers are so scarce in the wild, these poachers are now targeting the last remaining population of Asiatic Lions. Gir’s lions are an easy target, since they are comparatively used to people and live in open scrub forest. Their bones are also virtually indistinguishable from those of tigers. There is no market for big cat parts in India, and their poaching and the trade is entirely driven by demand from outside India’s borders, for use in traditional Chinese medicine’
It has also been found that the traditional practitioners prefer wild lion bones to captive bred ones as they are supposed to be more effective!
The present report stressed that lion carcasses should now be treated with the same degree of suspicion as tigers. As per LionAid, in India, all carcasses of tigers are considered poaching incidents and similar treatment has to be given to lion carcasses too.
More Related Stories,
Spies in the Sky Saving Wildlife
Rise in Livestock Numbers Once again a Problem at Gir
Image via cc/Flickr by Kabacchi
3 thoughts on “Lion Bones now Substitute Tiger Bones in Traditional Medicines”