The government of China is reportedly recommending a coronavirus treatment that includes bear bile. The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reported today that a list of recommended treatments for the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 published by the Chinese government earlier this month includes injections of a traditional medicine called “Tan Re Qing,” which contains bear […]
Tag: traditional chinese medicine
China beefs up wildlife trade ban as COVID-19 outbreak intensifies
China has banned the trade and consumption of wild animals in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that has claimed more than 2,700 lives and infected more than 81,000 people, most of them in China, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. A temporary ban on trade in wildlife announced in January was expected to […]
Coronavirus closures reveal vast scale of China’s secretive wildlife farm industry
Nearly 20,000 wildlife farms raising species including peacocks, civet cats, porcupines, ostriches, wild geese and boar have been shut down across China in the wake of the coronavirus, in a move that has exposed the hitherto unknown size of the industry. Until a few weeks ago wildlife farming was still being promoted by government agencies […]
Illegal pangolin trade may have played a part in coronavirus outbreak
The death toll from the novel coronavirus outbreak, the disease now called COVID-19, crossed the 2,362 mark this week as confirmed cases surpassed 78,000, but it remains unclear how the virus arrived into human populations. Bats are widely believed to be the source of the new virus. Some findings suggest it did not jump from […]
Scientists plan to flood black market with fake rhino horn to reduce poaching
Scientists are planning to flood the black market with realistic fake rhino horns made from horse hair in an attempt to reduce illegal poaching. Rhino horn is in demand for a range of uses, from traditional Chinese medicine to ornamental carvings, and the illegal international trade is thriving. In South Africa alone, 769 rhinos were […]
South Africa gets go-ahead to increase black rhino trophy hunting
South Africa has won permission to almost double the number of black rhinos that can be killed as trophies after arguing the money raised will support conservation of the critically endangered species. The decision was made at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) after receiving support from some African nations and opposition […]
Captive lion breeding in South Africa: the case for a total ban
A new report by global NGO, World Animal Protection, provides a damning indictment on the captive predator breeding industry. Big cats are being bred for the use of their bones in traditional Chinese medicine. China is estimated to house about 8 000 tigers in captivity, while South Africa may have as many as 14 000 […]
Chinese nationals arrested in US after smuggling totoaba swim bladders worth $3.7 million from Mexico
According to a report this week by Quartz, two Chinese nationals were arrested last month in the state of California with $3.7-million-worth of totoaba swim bladders that they had smuggled from Mexico. Quartz’s Justin Rohrlich writes that a sheriff’s deputy in Orange County, California initially pulled the two men, Yikang Liang and Haoyu Huang, over […]
