Within a Sky Full of Earth

Where there used to roam more than 100 000 tigers, now only around 5000 are left in the wild. In South China the tiger is on the verge of extinction, with just 20 to 30 remaining.

Pollution, human rights, natural resources and driving wild animals to extinction?
Is China ready for the Games of Peace yet?

Cruel almost beyond belief, this Chinese farm breeds hundreds of tigers in rows of battery cages … so they can be killed and turned into wine…

Although the Xiongsen tiger park, near Guilin in South-East China, appears to be a depressingly typical Third World zoo, with a theme park restaurant and open areas where tigers roam, it actually hides a far more sinister secret: it’s a factory farm breeding tigers to be eaten and to be made into wine.

Tiger farmers also have their eyes on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. They hope that a huge influx of tourists will lead to increased demand for tiger wine.
Although it is illegal to trade internationally in such tiger products as wine, the Chinese are lobbying hard to get the law relaxed. This June, the Chinese Government is expected to press the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to allow the trade in 'medicines' such as wine produced from farmed tigers.

If the Chinese get their way, then it will almost certainly drive the tigers over the cliff into extinction. It is almost too late to save this magnificent creature.
Full Story & pic from here. More info on planet and animals here