TIGER NUMBERS IN CHINA HAVE FALLEN TO UNDER 50---20 Siberian, 20 Bengal and 10 Indochinese---with no end in sight. Extinction of this mighty species is predicted by 2030. Even though there's been a ban on hunting tiger for years, poachers persist and are blamed for the tigers' dwindling numbers. The loss of habitat is also contributing. It's now estimated there are only 3,200 big cats left in the world.
Still one can't help but wonder what would happen if tiger farming for fun and profit in free markets were legalized.
J.P. Floru opines about the 'problem' at Adam Smith:
Wild tiger extinction is demand driven. There is a huge demand for tiger parts in traditional Chinese medicine. Campaigns to reduce this thousand-year-old practice have failed. As there are fewer and fewer tigers, the price has gone up. Tigers live in poor countries. It is lucrative to risk being caught, and to bribe game wardens, officials and politicians. Because the price has sky-rocketed demand has gone up even further, as we see in the recent popularity of high-end tiger bone wine and tiger meat.
For decades environmental policies have focused on banning the tiger trade. This is doomed to failure, as the sky-rocketing price makes it impossible to police it. When trade is outlawed only the outlaws trade.
Then Floru gives us a solution which purist, environmental lobbyists steadfastly oppose:
For decades environmental policies have focused on banning the tiger trade. This is doomed to failure, as the sky-rocketing price makes it impossible to police it. When trade is outlawed only the outlaws trade.
There is a market solution: the commercial farming of tigers. It is not difficult to farm tigers, and it is being done in many countries, including China and the USA. China has 5,000 captive tigers; the US 10,000. In fact these privately owned tigers may very well guarantee the survival of the species.
Economically and environmentally it makes total sense. The high demand is met by an increased offer. Therefore the market price for tigers goes down. If the price of a farmed tiger sinks below the price to poach one, poaching will disappear. In other words: farm tigers in captivity and tigers in the wild will be left in peace. It has been done before: widespread farming and internationally sanctioned trade rescued crocodiles from extinction.
The market can do even more for wild tigers, apart from farming them commercially. One fundamental problem with wild tigers (and wild animals in general), is that they are not owned by anyone. They are literally a free for all, which results in shortages, as is always the case where there is collective ownership. People are more protective of what they own privately than what they own collectively. Wild animals are greatly helped when their reserves are privatised. It can for example allow tourists to pay the cost of protecting the reserve. State owned tiger reserves bear a heavy responsibility for the killing of wild tigers.
Why we can't get it through our thick skulls that private tiger farming is a boon to this species is beyond me. Environmentalist want it their way and their way alone. Meanwhile, tiger numbers plummet and with it, hopes for reviving the Asian tiger species goes forever down the drain. Sometimes we just can't see the forest for the trees.
First seen at Carpe Diem
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