Connor, N. (2015, February 12). China Tiger Farms Put Big Cats in the Jaws of Extinction: Science X Network. Science X Network. Retrieved February, 2015 from <http://phys.org/news/2015-02-china-tiger-farms-big-cats.html>.
The Siberian Tiger Park in China, along with other breeding centers and farms in the country, breed tigers in order to sell their body parts for money after they die. China’s tiger farm industry says the trade in captive animals helps preserve the cats, but wildlife groups argue that it is actually increasing the amount of poaching of these animals.
This article relates to environmental science because human poaching and the Chinese economy are greatly interfering with the survival of this tiger species. I am quite disturbed by this article because these wild cats are being used for money instead of living freely like they are supposed to. I think this is terrible and we need to do something to protect these endangered tigers.
Could this behavior of raising the animals and using them after their death be considered a type of poaching? If so, what is the appropriate thing to do with the animals bodies after death, should they not be used for profit at all? This seems to be somewhat of a moral issue.
It is a moral issue for sure. There is a very subtle difference between “preserving” the animals and “farming” the animals; the connotations associated with those words make a huge difference. It is an interesting question: is there even really a difference? What do you do with an animals body after death in a preserve? Is it really different than what they are doing on the farms? If the tigers are being treated well in while they are alive, you could very well make the case that we have every right to use the body for whatever we want. However, I would want to look into whether or not the farm conditions are any different than those in regular preserves, because then there could be rules made for that.