World’s donkeys and tigers hit by growth in Chinese medicine
THE growing popularity of traditional Chinese medicine is ravaging global populations of donkeys, tigers and other animals, conservationists say.
Poachers target various species for their organs to make treatments for ailments, from arthritis to erectile dysfunction.
The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industry is now worth £46billion a year because of home-grown demand and an increasing interest in alternative treatments in the West.
Beijing was buoyed last May when the World Health Organisation (WHO) controversially included the ancient remedies for the first time in its influential compendium of diseases and medical diagnoses. The decision could lead to more mainstream recognition of TCM, although the WHO has said it did not indicate an official endorsement of the science behind it or condonement of the use of animal parts.
“We fear that WHO endorsement of TCM will be interpreted by practitioners and users as endorsement of the use of wildlife parts in TCM, thereby ... putting pressure on already dwindling wildlife populations,” said John Goodrich, the chief scientist for wildcat conservation group Panthera.
China’s State Council plans a multidecade “strategic plan” to expand awareness and practice of traditional medicine, including setting up hospitals, museums, medicinal zoos and botanical gardens on countries along its Belt and Road initiative.
Half the world’s 44million donkeys could be wiped out over the next five years, experts says. Demand for e-jiao, a traditional medicine believed to improve blood circulation, has seen donkey populations plummet in China, Brazil and Botswana, while Kyrgyzstan has lost more than half its donkeys. Fears are growing in Kenya and Ghana.
Other animals at risk include the tiger and the pangolin, a scaly anteater thought to be the world’s most trafficked mammal after humans, whose scales are used to treat conditions including breast milk stoppage and rheumatoid arthritis.