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- Post n°27
US diplomat posed as Korean tourist in undercover visit to China tiger farm
burgundia Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:25 am
Cable released by WikiLeaks reveals American efforts to investigate allegations breeding centre was selling tiger parts
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Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 August 2011 17.45 BST
Article history
A malnourished tiger in a cage at Xiongsen Tiger Bone Wine farm, Guilin, China
A malnourished tiger in a cage at Xiongsen Tiger and Bear Farm. Photograph: Sinopix/Rex Features
An American diplomat posed as a Korean tourist to investigate a notorious tiger breeding centre in southern China, where he saw animals whipped, made to perform "marriage processions" and reportedly sold to be used in traditional medicines.
As a result of the undercover visit to Xiongsen Tiger and Bear Farm, the US government was notified of doubts about China's conservation efforts, according to a diplomatic cable recently released by WikiLeaks.
The investigation – more a piece of journalism than spying – was inspired by a flurry of foreign media reports in the spring of 2007 alleging the farm offered tiger meat in its restaurant and tiger bone wine in a shop.
In a cable sent from the Guangzhou US consulate titled Devouring Dragon, Disappearing Tigers, an un-named economics officer (referred to as Econoff in the cable) said that he was initially treated with suspicion by the sales personnel in the facility. But once he convinced them he was Korean, they became eager to do business.
"The staff stated that up to three tour groups of Koreans came a day, numbering more than 30 in each group.The Koreans were among the most enthusiastic purchasers of both the black bear bile and the tiger wine." The price of the bottles ranged from 80-896 yuan.
The visitor to the farm – which has more than 1,000 tigers in its cages – described the spectacle of a tiger killing an ox in a "training cage" purportedly set aside as a training area for animals that are to be introduced to the wild. But most of the animals appear tame and some were used in circus-like entertainment shows, where they were beaten. Black bears – kept for their bile – were also made to join a mock Chinese marriage procession where they acted as bride and groom, he noted.
Locals told him that the farm served tiger meat and sold tiger skin, but this was denied by staff.
Nonetheless, he concludes in the cable dated 12 July 2007 that: "The commercial nature of the farm was troubling. The large number of endangered tigers and bears present with no current plans to reintroduce to them into the wild raises concern regarding the motivation of such a farm. Given the cost of feeding and caring for the numerous tigers, lions and bears, it appears highly unlikely that the farm would be able to meet its costs based solely on the admission price and government subsidies."
Four years on, these concerns remain valid. Reports earlier this year suggest the tiger population of the farm has grown and that budget problems mean many tigers lack food.
The diplomat also visited Longyan tiger reserve outside of Xiamen in Fujian province, where he found no signs of research activites – the stated purpose of the facility.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/25/us-diplomat-china-tiger-farm
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Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 August 2011 17.45 BST
Article history
A malnourished tiger in a cage at Xiongsen Tiger Bone Wine farm, Guilin, China
A malnourished tiger in a cage at Xiongsen Tiger and Bear Farm. Photograph: Sinopix/Rex Features
An American diplomat posed as a Korean tourist to investigate a notorious tiger breeding centre in southern China, where he saw animals whipped, made to perform "marriage processions" and reportedly sold to be used in traditional medicines.
As a result of the undercover visit to Xiongsen Tiger and Bear Farm, the US government was notified of doubts about China's conservation efforts, according to a diplomatic cable recently released by WikiLeaks.
The investigation – more a piece of journalism than spying – was inspired by a flurry of foreign media reports in the spring of 2007 alleging the farm offered tiger meat in its restaurant and tiger bone wine in a shop.
In a cable sent from the Guangzhou US consulate titled Devouring Dragon, Disappearing Tigers, an un-named economics officer (referred to as Econoff in the cable) said that he was initially treated with suspicion by the sales personnel in the facility. But once he convinced them he was Korean, they became eager to do business.
"The staff stated that up to three tour groups of Koreans came a day, numbering more than 30 in each group.The Koreans were among the most enthusiastic purchasers of both the black bear bile and the tiger wine." The price of the bottles ranged from 80-896 yuan.
The visitor to the farm – which has more than 1,000 tigers in its cages – described the spectacle of a tiger killing an ox in a "training cage" purportedly set aside as a training area for animals that are to be introduced to the wild. But most of the animals appear tame and some were used in circus-like entertainment shows, where they were beaten. Black bears – kept for their bile – were also made to join a mock Chinese marriage procession where they acted as bride and groom, he noted.
Locals told him that the farm served tiger meat and sold tiger skin, but this was denied by staff.
Nonetheless, he concludes in the cable dated 12 July 2007 that: "The commercial nature of the farm was troubling. The large number of endangered tigers and bears present with no current plans to reintroduce to them into the wild raises concern regarding the motivation of such a farm. Given the cost of feeding and caring for the numerous tigers, lions and bears, it appears highly unlikely that the farm would be able to meet its costs based solely on the admission price and government subsidies."
Four years on, these concerns remain valid. Reports earlier this year suggest the tiger population of the farm has grown and that budget problems mean many tigers lack food.
The diplomat also visited Longyan tiger reserve outside of Xiamen in Fujian province, where he found no signs of research activites – the stated purpose of the facility.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/25/us-diplomat-china-tiger-farm
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Finding a soulmate in a animal - Grace & Tiger Paws souls contracts to heal their lives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bl9HX74veI
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bl9HX74veI
Love Always
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Closing a Deadly Gateway
This video is based on a TRAFFIC/WWF report called 'The Big Cat Trade in Myanmar and Thailand', which found that black markets along Myanmar, Thailand and China's shared borders play a crucial role facilitating the deadly illicit trade in tigers and other endangered species. Such trade is driving tigers to extinction.
The documentary illustrates the illegal trade described in the report. The film shows interviews with poachers and alarming footage of butchered tigers.
This video is based on a TRAFFIC/WWF report called 'The Big Cat Trade in Myanmar and Thailand', which found that black markets along Myanmar, Thailand and China's shared borders play a crucial role facilitating the deadly illicit trade in tigers and other endangered species. Such trade is driving tigers to extinction.
The documentary illustrates the illegal trade described in the report. The film shows interviews with poachers and alarming footage of butchered tigers.
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In celebration of children and animals - Moments of Connection, the movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAei6IbrtYU
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAei6IbrtYU
Love Always
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Animal Save Movement Pakistan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5b9aVFQH0Q&list=UUg3etekbaG3O31xG12ov5HA&index=1
Love Always
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5b9aVFQH0Q&list=UUg3etekbaG3O31xG12ov5HA&index=1
Love Always
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Angels & Animals
An angel, in the sense in which we use the term here, is not necessarily a celestial being. Any messenger who wakes us up to be more alive, more truly ourselves, is an angel. The Greek term “angelos” means “messenger.” We have all met messengers in this sense. They come in the most unexpected guises. We may not be immediately aware of it, but their messages are all about gratefulness.
Yes, we are truly thankful to that “angel” who flashes us a smile on a rainy day or gives us the quarter we thought we had at hand when we got on the bus. And of course we are thankful to our animal helpers – not only to seeing-eye dogs, but also to the cat purring in our lap, the sparrow chirping under the eaves, the antelopes which we see only in pictures. Each of them sends us a message of joy.
Our focus here is not on thankfulness, though, but on gratefulness. Animals teach us gratefulness, the art of being in the moment. We humans half cling to the past, half stretch out to the future, with little of us left to enjoy the now. Animals are fully present. Through their unconditional acceptance of each moment, they sometimes draw even us into it.
When humans learn to be gratefully present every moment, they become angels. It’s not the wings that make the angel, but the message of courageous presence and creative acceptance, no matter what the moment brings: “Fear not!”
“ I have lived with several Zen masters – all of them cats.” - Eckhart Tolle, The Power of NOW.
http://www.gratefulness.org/t/aanimals.htm
Love Always
mudra
An angel, in the sense in which we use the term here, is not necessarily a celestial being. Any messenger who wakes us up to be more alive, more truly ourselves, is an angel. The Greek term “angelos” means “messenger.” We have all met messengers in this sense. They come in the most unexpected guises. We may not be immediately aware of it, but their messages are all about gratefulness.
Yes, we are truly thankful to that “angel” who flashes us a smile on a rainy day or gives us the quarter we thought we had at hand when we got on the bus. And of course we are thankful to our animal helpers – not only to seeing-eye dogs, but also to the cat purring in our lap, the sparrow chirping under the eaves, the antelopes which we see only in pictures. Each of them sends us a message of joy.
Our focus here is not on thankfulness, though, but on gratefulness. Animals teach us gratefulness, the art of being in the moment. We humans half cling to the past, half stretch out to the future, with little of us left to enjoy the now. Animals are fully present. Through their unconditional acceptance of each moment, they sometimes draw even us into it.
When humans learn to be gratefully present every moment, they become angels. It’s not the wings that make the angel, but the message of courageous presence and creative acceptance, no matter what the moment brings: “Fear not!”
“ I have lived with several Zen masters – all of them cats.” - Eckhart Tolle, The Power of NOW.
http://www.gratefulness.org/t/aanimals.htmLove Always
mudra
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Ethiopian girl reportedly guarded by lions
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.
The girl, missing for a week, had been taken by seven men who wanted to force her to marry one of them, said Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo, speaking by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, about 350 miles southwest of Addis Ababa.
She was beaten repeatedly before she was found June 9 by police and relatives on the outskirts of Bita Genet, Wondimu said. She had been guarded by the lions for about half a day, he said.
“They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest,” Wondimu said.
“If the lions had not come to her rescue, then it could have been much worse. Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage,” he said.
'Some kind of miracle'
Tilahun Kassa, a local government official who corroborated Wondimu’s version of the events, said one of the men had wanted to marry the girl against her wishes.
“Everyone thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people,” Wondimu said.
read on: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8305836/ns/world_news-africa/t/ethiopian-girl-reportedly-guarded-lions/#.TxVCJGDmZ-X
Love Always
mudra
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.
The girl, missing for a week, had been taken by seven men who wanted to force her to marry one of them, said Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo, speaking by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, about 350 miles southwest of Addis Ababa.
She was beaten repeatedly before she was found June 9 by police and relatives on the outskirts of Bita Genet, Wondimu said. She had been guarded by the lions for about half a day, he said.
“They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest,” Wondimu said.
“If the lions had not come to her rescue, then it could have been much worse. Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage,” he said.
'Some kind of miracle'
Tilahun Kassa, a local government official who corroborated Wondimu’s version of the events, said one of the men had wanted to marry the girl against her wishes.
“Everyone thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people,” Wondimu said.
read on: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8305836/ns/world_news-africa/t/ethiopian-girl-reportedly-guarded-lions/#.TxVCJGDmZ-X
Love Always
mudra
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mudra wrote:“Everyone thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people,” Wondimu said.
Alas - We are moving back to It - Finally...
Brotherhood with All Nature. Awesome...
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Joshua Klein on the intelligence of crows
Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he's come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal and human.
http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows.html
Love Always
mudra
Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he's come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal and human.
http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows.htmlLove Always
mudra
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http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/300179
CHINESE medicine containing bile drained from the stomachs of tortured bears is being sold in the UK.
The digestive juice, painfully extracted from Asian, black bears kept in tiny cages, is advertised as a traditional remedy for hangovers and liver complaints.
What shoppers do not realize, however, is that these products, bought from Chinese pharmacies around the country, are funding barbaric bear farms in South East Asia.
CHINESE medicine containing bile drained from the stomachs of tortured bears is being sold in the UK.
The digestive juice, painfully extracted from Asian, black bears kept in tiny cages, is advertised as a traditional remedy for hangovers and liver complaints.
What shoppers do not realize, however, is that these products, bought from Chinese pharmacies around the country, are funding barbaric bear farms in South East Asia.
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Sniffle...
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Haha, yep, I'm sniffling too. That was beautiful Mudra. Thank you. 
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