By Tim Saunders on
Jackie Chan has spoken out against the use of tiger products in China, admitting that he once used them.
“If you stop buying tiger products, they will stop killing the tigers,” he wrote on his website. “I used to think that medicine with tiger bones would heal you, but I was just contributing to them killing more tigers! Tiger skin, tiger medicine, tiger bone – we don’t need it. Lets all save the tigers, especially during the Year of the Tiger! Go to www.wildaidchina.org.”
Chan took part in a press conference to help WildAid China, and was especially moved by a speech made by WildAid and Environmental Justice Foundation founder Steve Trent.
“Why is this campaign and the support it has won so important?” asked Trent. "Simple, the tiger is in big trouble: year on year poaching and illegal trade in its parts and products, along with loss of habitat in the wild so that today fewer than 4,000 probably still survive in increasingly isolated and fragmented wild populations, down from over 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century – far fewer than are now held in captivity.
“In working together to stop the illegal and unsustainable trade in wildlife we must remember the role of the market place. If the demand for endangered wildlife products continues as it is today, the illegal trade will continue to flourish. But, if everyone refuses illegal or unsustainable wildlife products, the market will shrink, poaching will decline and we all will have made a contribution to conservation, so please remember: ‘when the buying stops, the killing can too.’”
To read the full speech, click here.
Copyright © 2010 Look to the Stars
