Tiger whiskers and fur for sale

T

TigerTrainer

New Member
What are legalities concerning a zoo selling whiskers and fur of their tigers? I visited a zoo's gift shop, and saw that they had novelty jars with whiskers for sale, and a framed case that had a whisker and fur clippings for sale. It struck me as odd that a zoo would be selling these.

I looked ate CITES, but I can't really wade through all that jargon.
 
CITES is only relevant when you cross country borders, eg. trying to export tiger fur from USA to some other country. If it stays within the country, it is all about local laws such as the Endangered Species Act. If the zoo is a member of one of the larger zoo organizations (e.g. AZA), they might also have some rules on this.
 
Did some more digging. The Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act prohibits the sale of any parts of tigers. But it mentions parts "intended for human consumption". The label on the jar at the zoo has fine print that says Not for Human Consumption, so I guess that is their way around it?

It just seems wrong to sell these.
 
It would appear that this zoo should remove any animal parts from its gift shop. Beside the fact that it sends the wrong message to its visitors, selling(giving/trading, etc) endangered species body parts for any purpose is a violation of the Endangered Species Act. If this zoo is in the US, you might want to let the staff know. No accredited AZA facility should have items like this in the gift shop.
 
Meh, why shouldn't they be able to sell things like that? Fur naturally falls off the tigers in clumps. So does the occasional whisker. It's not like typical fur where it involves skinning the animal or poaching a rhino horn.They can use the extra profit to stop real problems like poaching and to better the lives of their animals.
 
Sn0wboarder2390 said:
Meh, why shouldn't they be able to sell things like that? Fur naturally falls off the tigers in clumps. So does the occasional whisker. It's not like typical fur where it involves skinning the animal or poaching a rhino horn.They can use the extra profit to stop real problems like poaching and to better the lives of their animals.
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It still encourages the trade of those animals' parts in general. Most people aren't really going to know or care where it comes from if they want to buy animal material. The more interest there is in it, the more incentive for poaching. Using sales from these to fight poaching is pretty counterproductive to say the least.
 
When it comes to non-endangered animals like alligators, peacocks, ostriches, etc, I don't have a problem with selling parts in the gift shop, but when it comes to things like tigers and rhinos it's a very bad idea. What zoo was this?
 
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