(CN) Thai tigers safe and sound in Hainan

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Thai tigers safe and sound in Hainan

By Cao Desheng (China Daily)

Updated: 2004-05-13 22:34

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-05/13/content_330516.htm

 

Allegations that tigers imported from Thailand to China were used to make

aphrodisiacs are " groundless, " say officials.

 

" All of the tigers are intact and in good condition in the breeding base and

more than 50 cubs have been born since they arrived in the breeding centre, "

Maitree Temsiripone said on Wednesday.

 

Maitree is president of Sanya Maitree Concept Co Ltd -- a Sino-Thai joint

venture in Sanya, Hainan Province -- that arranged for the importation of

100 Bengal tigers from Thailand to a breeding base in South China's Hainan

Province 16 months ago.

 

In recent days, allegations have surfaced in Thai media that some of the

tigers were slaughtered to make aphrodisiacs.

 

He said the company is building a Love World Theme Park in the tropical city

for these animals, which will serve as a research centre for breeding the

endangered animals as well as a tourist venue. It will open to the public in

October, he added.

 

The tigers were shipped to China on Christmas Eve, 2002, as part of a joint

project between China and Japan proposed by former Chinese premier Zhu

Rongji during a 2001 visit to Thailand.

 

However, the Royal Forest Department of Thailand was accused at the time of

violating international wildlife treaties by approving the shipment.

 

Tigers are protected by the convention on International Trade in Endangers

Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), but the animals are allowed to be

kept for breeding, research and protection.

 

He said tigers were also imported from Indonesia, Germany and the United

States as well as Thailand and all were imported for breeding and scientific

research.

 

The government-sponsored tiger research centre has ambitious plans to breed

200,000 animals in the next five years and eventually release some from a

forest preserve into the wild, said Maitree.

 

Senior officials from Hainan provincial government and the Hainan Tourist

Bureau said on Wednesday in Bangkok that China has been cracking down on the

trading and killing of protected wildlife and any attempt to smuggle and

slaughter protected animals will be punished.

 

In a statement following the press conference, officials said allegations

that Maitree Concept is manufacturing aphrodisiacs from dead imported tigers

are " groundless. "

 

Officials from the State Administration of Forestry, China's top wildlife

protection authority, could not be reached for comment Thursday, but sources

at the administration said a special conference on the preservation of

protected animals will be held in Beijing next month.

 

On Tuesday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra also fended off

accusations that Thailand had illegally sold 100 tigers to China for

commercial purposes, saying that Beijing had given him a satisfactory

explanation.

 

Thaksin was quoted by his spokesman Jakrapob Penkair as saying that China

had convinced him that the sale of the tigers formed part of a wider

Thai-Chinese tourism promotion programme, the Thai News Agency reported on

Wednesday.

 

The prime minister made the statement after Thai legislators launched an

investigation into the shipment of the animals in March.