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A briefing regarding the 100 tigers that Sri Racha Tiger Zoo in Thailand exported to China.

• The Chinese Sanya Love World is not a scientific institution, but operates for public entertainment.

• Since the tigers imported are from inbred hybridised founder stock, have not been bred in a scientific manner and are not part of an internationally managed studbook programme, they provide no conservation benefit.

• The tigers in Sri Racha today are thought to be primarily Bengal tigers, yet there is no indication that consultation with India, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh (range States) was conducted in advance of the trade.

• The tigers in question could not be released in to the wild in China. Releasing captive bred tigers into the wild is a long complicated scientific process that has yet to be completed successfully anywhere. Sufficient well-protected forest is required. Two of the reasons China’s own subspecies, the South China tiger is on the verge of extinction are habitat destruction and poaching to satisfy global demand for skins and bones. There is no evidence to suggest either threat is under control.

• Current captive breeding programmes in China feed tigers live chicken and cows to “train” captive bred tigers to hunt. To release tigers trained in this way would prove disastrous. Upon release such specimens would simply attack domestic livestock, bringing them into direct conflict with local people. The methods currently used in China for breeding tigers also mean that the specimens are habituated to people and for this reason would be unsuitable for release.

• Sri Racha Tiger Zoo is not a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, it is a private commercial enterprise and is “essentially a place of public entertainment” complete with an exhibit showcasing their breeding programme with tiger cubs “suckling” on pigs and photo opportunities for the 1.2 million visitors it receives.

• The tigers at Sri Racha came from a founder stock of two male and two female so-called "Bengal" tigers in 1987. In August 2002 there were over 350 tigers. Only four more tigers have been introduced to the original stock in that time.

• The reasons given for continued breeding of the tigers at this rate are so that the facility can claim it has more tigers than anywhere else.

• The CITES Tiger Technical Mission team “believes that the large number of tigers in captivity in Thailand and the significant amount of captive breeding that is taking place offers considerable potential for illicit activities”.

• The CITES Tiger Mission to Thailand also considered the more general problem with the interpretation of “zoos” and trade for “non-commercial purposes” and noted in their report that “The team also had in mind some recent violations of the Convention where illicit trade in specimens of CITES-listed species, including some highly endangered Appendix-I species, has occurred where the trade purported to be of a scientific nature but had significant commercial aspects”.

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