AR-News: (China,Thailand, Myanmar ) Eating animals to extinction

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

By DENIS D. GRAY 
China?s insatiable appetite for wildlife has put many of South-East Asia?s 
species in hot soup, literally. Besides being fair game for gourmands, animal 
parts are also much sought after for medicines and tonics in an increasingly 
affluent society steeped in the traditional belief that exotic fare endows the 
consumer with added social status and sexual prowess.  
FURRY bear paws lie next to neatly arranged skins of jungle cats, monkey 
skulls, mountain goat horns and dried tiger penises. The parts of vanishing 
species from South-East Asia?s forests are laid out for Chinese buyers seeking sex 
boosters, cures for cancer and exotic food.  
?Very strong. It can fight with a tiger, so it?s good for sex,?? the vendor 
says, pointing to a pair of wild buffalo horns priced at US$125 (RM475) and 
explaining that in powder form they?ll surely enhance virility, given the 
animal?s power.  
A sizable quantity of wildlife is felled to supply dealers in the scruffy 
town of Tachileik on the Thailand-Myanmar border. But Tachileik is just one node 
of a trade network that funnels fauna and flora from across the region to 
satisfy a seemingly insatiable demand in China. 



full story:

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/3/30/features/7616207&sec
=features 
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