Tigers sent to breed, not to be cooked

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http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/wed/mar5w12.htm

 

Tigers sent to breed, not to be cooked

 

BANGKOK (dpa) - A Thai official has denied media reports that 100 tigers

exported to China last year ended up as meat dishes in restaurants

specialising in exotic food, news reports said Tuesday. Plodprasop

Suraswadi, permanent secretary to the Natural Resources and Environment

Ministry, was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying he had been reassured by

China's deputy forestry chief, Meng Xialin, that the Thai tigers had not

been eaten.

 

" If the tigers were sent to a restaurant, it would reflect very badly on

China, " Plodprasop said on Monday.

 

Chinese media reports said the tigers were sent to restaurants specialising

in unusual dishes rather than their intended destination, the Sanya breeding

centre in China's southern province of Hainan.

 

The reports reached Thai Environment Minister Praphat Panyachartrak, who

requested clarification.

 

The tigers were raised at the Si Racha Tiger Zoo, 70 kilometres southeast of

Bangkok, and sent to China in December. They are alive and well at the

breeding centre, the Chinese official was quoted as saying.

 

Tigers are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangers

Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which prohibits their export and

import for commercial purposes but allows the animals to be kept for

breeding, research and protection.