Vietnamese admire the tiger and yet they have eaten it to near extinction

-
Vietnam's tiger conservation efforts has arrived too late with just 5 wild tigers in the country! The video explains why Vietnamese people should think about tiger conservation and refuse to buy tiger glue among other tiger products. Tigers were plentiful in Vietnam. Now there are five in the wild. That's almost as good as saying they are extinct in the wild in Vietnam.


The video is good. I like it. But it's too late and the Vietnamese are engaged in a particularly obnoxious kind of speciesism concerning one species: the cat.

Their culture allows them to eat domestic cats after a brutal death and yet there is a big push to save the tiger. As I said this is speciesism and it is illogical to me.

It is remarkable that so many products are made from tiger body parts many based on unsubstantiated superstition. Killing tigers for body part products is killing them for no reason at all. It is just self-indulgent nonsense.

Education for Nature - Vietnam says that the remaining five wild tigers are mainly in...

"...border areas of the central and northwest region of the country. However, ENV investigations have proven that the illegal tiger trade flourishes in Vietnam with a number of farms known to be selling tiger cubs and trading tiger bones and parts."

Tiger bone glue
Tiger bone glue. I believe the photo was taken in Thailand where this product is sold. Image in the public domain.

The point is that five tigers is unsustainable as a population. There are not enough to maintain sufficient genetic diversity. They'll become inbred and then the males will become sterile. After than it will be a short time before the population dies out entirely. The wild tiger is doomed in Vietnam.

A study usefully explains what tiger bone glue is:
In Vietnam, tiger bone is often cooked into a glue known as cao hổ (in Vietnamese) that can be eaten directly or put into a medicinal wine (Krishnasamy and Stoner, 2016). This process involves two to three days of cooking in high-pressure cookers until tiger bones are completely dissolved to a glue-like substance
Tiger bone glue is sold in Thailand. Yes, it is about consuming the tiger for superstitious reasons. They think the product carries health benefits but it does not. As I said: pointless killings. The tiger bone glue is just one example of tiger products. There are many others.

The Vietnamese admire the tiger and yet they have all but killed it off by eating it! Bizarre or what?!
Location: Vietnam

Comments

Post a Comment

Please comment.

Popular posts from this blog

What do tigers eat in the jungle?

-
Image
Chittal - tiger prey - Photo by monojussi Tigers eat anything in the jungle - whatever they can catch. But tigers need large prey to survive long term. Here is a list of prey items from Nagarole NP in India, Royal Bardia NP in Nepal and Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand, assessed from scats (feces). Tigers don't just live in jungle. They live in a wide variety of habitats including lowland evergreen forest, monsoonal forest, scrub oak, birch woods of Siberia (Siberian tiger) and the mangrove swamps of the Sundarbans (India and Bangladesh). The tiger is forced to live in these swamps (tidal salt marsh - largest in world). Tiger prey items in the above reserves: Chittal Hog deer Sambar Barking deer Gaur Barasingha (swamp deer) Wild pig Nilgai Chevrotain Hare Porcupine Hog badger Dhole Primates Lizards Of these the chittal is the most common prey. The sambar and barking deer are also common prey items. Prey items depend on the location. Ho
Read more

Mythology in China - Bai Hu (white tiger)

-
Image
About 6,500 years ago the Chinese divided the sky into four parts in Chinese astrology. They are north, east, west, and south. Each section contains seven stars which look like images of four mythical creatures and Bai Hu is a white tiger in charge of the west of the sky. The white tiger is a symbol of loyalty, power, justice and bravery. It was used by the military in Chinese history such as on a flag and seal. It probably still is. Bai Hu mythical white tiger from Chinese mythology. Image: Pinterest. Bai Hu represents autumn and it was believed to be a reincarnation of the tiger star, Alpha, in the Milky Way. According to I Ching, the tiger symbolises Yin or evil and the dragon symbolises Yang or good.  It roughly corresponds with the prominent constellation of Orion that dominates the autumn and winter night sky. Fiona Sunquist in her book (with her husband Mel), Wild Cats of the World , writes that "the breath of the Tiger creates the wind and the breath of the dragon creat
Read more

Can tigers meow?

-
Image
Yes, tigers can meow in their own way. According to a true expert on carnivore vocalisations, Gustav Peters, tigers have several types of vocalisations. These include the meow. They also include the prusten, roar, growl, snarl, coughing snarl, grunt, moan, spit and hiss. Tigers can meow in their own way. Is it a true meow? Photo: Pixabay. That's it. There is nothing more to say about tigers meowing but I'll go on! I had thought that they were incapable of meowing because they can roar.  But it depends on how you describe the meow sound. It is a 'elastic' sound in that it varies so much. You can't expect a tiger with their voice box to meow like a domestic cat.  There is a certain amount if imagination required to shoehorn the tiger meow into the category of sounds called the 'meow'. This is why it is a tricky subject to discuss. I have just written a page on the wild cats which meow . And that was difficult because except for the wild ancestor of the domesti
Read more