Bottle of BuGu Wine (IMAGE)
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Tiger bone wine was a popular form of Tiger medicine for generations and in the past, wine manufacturers consumed large quantities of Tiger bone. The wine is produced by steeping carcasses in large vats of rice wine. TRAFFIC purchased two bottles of "Bone Strengthening Wine" from Guilin-based Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village, a Tiger breeding center that has received permission from the Chinese State Forestry Administration to sell wine made with bones from captive-bred African lions. The wine, however, is sold in Tiger-shaped bottles. TRAFFIC had the wine tested at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Although DNA was detected, it was too degraded to be amplified and matched to any feline DNA sequence. The failure of sophisticated laboratory analysis to confirm the species used to make the wine calls into question the government’s ability to police its wildlife product manufacturing policy. If the use of approved species cannot be verified, the system is open to abuse.
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TRAFFIC
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