Animals In Danger From Oriental Medicine
The population of China has increased its purchasing power and with it the use of animals in oriental medicine practices has also increased.
More and more people have access to ancestral treatments, supposedly infallible, and using the body parts of animals in danger of extinction.
Unfortunately, this ancient type of medicine, which is more than three thousand years old, is also becoming fashionable in Europe.
For example, treatments to improve energy flow using tiger bones or rhino horns are on the increase, putting these species at risk.
There are also many species of animals that are used in Asian medicine, from cows to scorpions, through snakes and seahorses.
All the products used have no scientific basis and, although many of them are not harmful, they prevent the patient from following treatments that could be more effective.
They can also lead to the extinction of species, as currently there are animals in danger due to oriental medicine.
Rhino: one of the animals in danger from oriental medicine
Asian rhinos have suffered from hunting for millennia. Hunters seek to obtain some of its body parts, especially the famous horn. Nowadays, it can reach 50,000 euros a kilo.
This intensive hunting also includes the white rhinoceros, one of the animals endangered by oriental medicine.
It seems that part of traditional Chinese medicine is based on a certain mysticism. For the same properties of white rhino horn (keratin) are present in human nails and hair.
The white rhino is no longer at risk of extinction. But with the recent demise of the Northern subspecies and the growing demand for rhino horn, many fear they will be doomed by human ignorance.
Big Cats: The Tiger Case
Another animal in danger from oriental medicine is the tiger, one of the most iconic animals in China.
All of its parts are highly coveted, especially the bones: they could be worth $400 a pound.
Unfortunately, this meant that tigers were created as if their bodies were already designed for this purpose from birth.
In addition to the delicate situation of the tiger in the wild, although the number of individuals is increasing, there are still only 3,000 individuals today.
This caused it to be replaced by other more abundant feline species such as lions and jaguars.
In these farms of tigers and lions is where a real deposit is found, as they raise felines as if they were cattle.
The case of Africa is devastating, as many tourists are misled into thinking they are in sanctuaries. It is permissible to pet puppies, which, when they grow up, are used for walks with visitors.
It is vitally important to be suspicious when we are allowed to pet or care for puppies, and we must be wary of any attraction that promises interactions with wild animals.
When animals become adults, they have two destinations: the most spectacular males are auctioned off for hunting.
Females are often used to make rice wine, a status symbol in China. The wine is simply macerated with tiger or lion bones.
bears, other big victims
In the case of bears, many parts of their anatomy are discarded, although bile has become one of the most sought-after resources of oriental medicine, especially from bear species such as Malays and black bears.
Again, these species are bred on hundreds of farms, with the aim of producing the small amount of bile secreted by the gallbladder.
The substance festers huge prices on the black market. Bears are raised in tiny cages, so they grow up with bone and muscle malformations, as their bones are worthless.
pangolin, the most threatened
Of all the animals threatened by oriental medicine, the pangolin is the most critical species due to these practices.
Again, here too keratin presents its ineffectiveness as a treatment, but its profitability for hunters is enormous.
Tons of scales from these small animals are often seized.
The boats are loaded with so many scales that it could mean the death of 20,000 specimens in a single shipment.
In fact, the kilogram of scales comes to 3,000 euros easily.
Despite the enormous degree of protection that this species has, it is believed that more than 100,000 pangolins are hunted annually.
Just pick them up and kill them, because they protect themselves just by curling up and keeping quiet.
The dietary eccentricities related to these species also border on the absurd. Soups tiger penis or pangolin fetus to increase virility are seen as almost miraculous, something strange for anyone minimally studied.
Shark, the most abused
Sharks around the world have gone from predators to prey. The shark’s body is useless, so fishermen cut off its fins and toss them into the sea, where they slowly die.
Fins are worth up to 30 times more than meat, so sharks are doomed to die in agony for humans to enjoy shark soup.
The shark fin also has supposed properties. But the truth is, this is yet another example of the many gastronomic and medicinal oddities that are actually a way of showing status.
Unfortunately, sharks, tigers, bears and other animals endangered by oriental medicine are actually threatened by lack of culture and power struggles.
Unfortunately, many species of sharks, such as blue sharks, are brought in from other countries, such as Spain, that participate in this obscure business.
Although fishing is done ethically in Spain, the sale of fins to China after the animal’s death promotes stupid beliefs, however much it fattens the coffers of European companies.
