China is now only home to a small population of Amur tigers, but is surrounded by countries that have fundamental tiger populations such as India, Bangladesh and Russia. Through the borders the illegal trade of tiger parts that are used in Traditional Chinese Medicines still takes place although this practice has been banned since 1993. Furthermore, the illegal trade of tiger bone is greatly amplified with the many tiger farms throughout China.
With help from 21st Century Tiger, IFAW continues to conduct demand reduction campaigns in China to influence the attitudes of the younger generation to be more accepting of animal welfare and conservation. On-going activities to change attitudes include:
Monitor illegal trade of tiger products and parts online, reporting information to relevant agencies for prompt deletion and investigation.
Actively engage websites to ban tiger trade and raise awareness among online shoppers.
Revamp and maintain the Love Tiger website with micro blogs, e-magazines and online interactive activities to excite China’s younger generation.
Publish and promote a children’s book on the plight of the tiger.
Throughout 2010 and 2011 IFAW has invited a significant number of children to participate in the awareness campaigns, increased its investigation into the online trade of tiger products and prompted the major Beijing SOGO shopping mall to pledge to remove endangered wildlife products from their shelves.
