Lions and tigers are being born with painful deformities caused by inbreeding at industrial-style centres that harvest their body parts for a growing trade in traditional Asian “medicine”, investigators have revealed.
Big cats have been found with abnormalities to their faces, feet and legs, and may also suffer sight, hearing, breathing and chewing problems, a major report says.
The animals are among the thousands cooped up in tiny enclosures likened to factory farms, to be killed for their body parts, which are boiled or chopped up to make tiger bone wine and remedies for conditions from arthritis to meningitis, the document exposes.
The first ever global study of the Chinese “medicine” supply chain lays bare how faith in unproven treatments is directly causing captive big cats to suffer on a huge scale and threatening their existence in the wild.
Increasingly wealthy populations in China and Vietnam are driving up demand for “traditional medicine” products, the report says – and as the wild tiger is driven to extinction, so lions, jaguar and leopards are also being killed to supplement supplies.
People believe remedies made from big cats can treat conditions such as arthritis and rheumatism, promote strength and increase sexual vigour.
A majority of those questioned in both countries prefer the animals to come from the wild rather than farmed, believing the products are more effective, according to World Animal Protection (WAP), which produced the report.
The investigators also found “harrowing evidence” that inbreeding and breeding at speed leaves some animals with painful health problems including deformities, and they may also suffer sight, hearing, breathing and chewing problems.
China has up to 6,000 tigers awaiting slaughter, South Africa up to 8,000 lions, and Thailand 1,500 tigers. Laos and Vietnam both also farm lions and tigers, the charity says.
The big cats are either snatched from their mothers in the wild or are born at breeding facilities – an increasing trend as demand for tiger products has risen in recent years.