1. Here’s What Makes “Tiger Tiger
Burning Bright” A Fiction Far From
Reality
By Devanshi Tyagi

2. An ingredient that isn’t even listed
• This Wednesday (27th February 2013), I read an article in
‘Hindustan Times’ about a certain “tiger tonic wine”.
• The bone of a tiger is soaked in the wine and then removed,
the wine miraculously gets therapeutic properties and it is
the “tiger tonic wine” now.
• Also, this doesn’t even come to light since the bone is not a
part of the final product, and there is no need to list it in the
ingredients.
• And further, this method might be seen as harmless by many
as the tiger was dead when the bone had been extracted.
• But I say that it is not at all ethical; we humans have no right
to manipulate even a dead animal’s body. And as far as rights
are concerned, we have no right to even hold them captive.

3. • But, China is being Janus-faced in this whole debate.
• It supports the protection of endangered species and in the
15th CITES conference held in Doha, Qatar in March 2010, an
agreement was made between member states to protect the
tiger.
• And then in their country, in these “tiger farms”, bottles of
this wine are being sold for an astonishing amount of $30,400
per case.

4. Not the first time
• In 2012, there was a demand by India and UK, to ban the tiger
farms themselves.
• It is alarming to know that there are 200 such tiger farms, not
only in China but in Thailand, Vietnam and Laos with 5000
tigers in captive.
• It is an atrocious practice to keep them captive, as a tiger,
who is a denizen of the wild, cannot be held in cages.
• It is against his very predatory nature.
• His life span reduces, there is a very high probability that he
will be exploited and the very fact that they are in cages is a
matter of exploitation.

5. Lost charms?
• But, digressing here from China, I found India’s call to these
countries ironic.
• What is the state of affairs in our own country? We take out
all sorts of conservation programs with Blake’s words “TIGER,
tiger, burning bright” and beautiful illustrations, but what is
the ground reality?
• A visit to the Delhi zoo will tell you.
• A friend who went there last month, said the tigers definitely
are not like Aunt Jennifer’s tiger.
• Neither do they “pace in sleek chivalric certainty” nor are they
“proud and unafraid”.
• They are malnourished, evidently ill treated and not adapted
to the environment.

6. How atrocious
• Remembering Naresh, (the royal Bengal tiger, who died in
December in the Delhi zoo), zoo curator Riaz Ahmad Khan
said the breeding programs were never successful with
Naresh because of his ferocity.
• “Caught from the wild, he had never mated as he used to
attack the female tigers,” said Khan.
• This speaks volumes about the injustice we are doing to the
tigers, world over.
• It is tragic, atrocious and highly shameful.

7. Something has to be done
• And coming back to China, it is essential that the condition of
tigers in these 200 tigers farms be made public.
• It is a completely inhuman arrangement and China has to be
criticized and condemned for it.

8. • Read more on Youth Ki Awaaz at http://bit.ly/YWMTNO