Chinese tiger farms stoke demand for illegal tiger blood wine, pelts

A revived taste for tiger-bone wine among China’s wealthy–together with growing demand for the animals’ skins stuffed or splayed out as rugs–has made tiger poaching more lucrative across Asia even as the species’ numbers remain perilously low, the Washington Post reported, citing animal conservation organizations. While tiger numbers have stabilized globally in recent years, they are still dying in record numbers in India, their main habitat, with many killed by poachers to satisfy demand from China. There, the tiger-farming industry promotes tiger blood wine as a treatment for rheumatism and impotence.