Shocking animal violence in China (again)

By Derek Sandhaus

Its hardly news to say that China has a bad record when it comes to animal cruelty. Less than ten days after China began working on raising the bar for treatment of slaughter animals it looks like more trouble is brewing for our furry friends, this time in Hubei province.

Earlier this week authorities were shocked to discover that a Siberian tiger, a critically endangered species, was brutally dismembered and skinned at the Three Gorges Forest Wild Animal World in Yichang. The apparent motivation for this revolting act is the high price that tiger pelts and body parts (used for traditional Chinese medicine) fetch on the black market.

Sadly, the story just got worse. Following the investigation of the Siberian tiger incident, officials also discovered two stillborn Bengal tiger cubs in a freezer at the same zoo!!! Their deaths should have been reported to the authorities but, of course, were not.

The fact that anyone would be greedy enough to murder endangered animals at a zoo is sickening enough. That the poachers could be the same zoo employees hired to take care of the animals is just that much harder to stomach.

Photo from ucumari