Jul

3

2008
 
 

Extinction in pieces



Study reveals mixed feelings about tigers, medicine and conservation

bonesFarming tigers Panthera tigris to supply the demand for traditional Chinese medicines is not likely to safeguard their wild counterparts, according to a paper published in PLoS ONE this week. An international team of specialists, led by Save The Tiger Fund worker Brian Gratwicke, quizzed almost two thousand people in seven Chinese cities about their use of tiger-laced medicines, and the findings make grim reading. Nearly half of respondents admitted to using medicines claiming to use tiger parts, even though 93 percent agreed that a ban in the sale of tiger parts was necessary to save the world’s biggest cats from oblivion. Source: Gratwicke B, Mills J, Dutton A, Gabriel G, Long B, Seidensicker J, Wright B, You W & Zhang L (2008) Attitudes towards consumption and conservation of tigers in China. PLoS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002544
Image: © Jack Lamour

Filed Under Endangered species, Monitoring, Economics and conservation, Community-based conservation, Socio-political issues | 

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One Response to “Extinction in pieces”

  1. Public Library of Science on July 4th, 2008 5:01 pm

    Rhapsody in Green…

    If you have visited the PLoS ONE homepage this week, you may have noticed the rather quirky juxtaposition in the Recently Published block of a paper on the effect of a broccoli-rich diet on prostate gene expression with an article on the acoustic prope…

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