Employees of the FSB Border Department in the Primorsky Krai discovered an underground workshop for processing trepang, where the bones of a rare animal also turned out. This was established by the expertise carried out by the specialists of the Amur Tiger Center.
In the city of Nakhodka, Primorsky Krai, officers of the FSB Border Department in the Primorsky Krai covered two illegal trepang processing shops. According to the department, more than 50 ginseng roots, about 10 thousand species of trepang, were seized. Also, when inspecting the shops, the security forces discovered the bones of the animal, which were located in a container with an alcohol-containing liquid. As it turned out during the examination, the remains belonged to the Amur tiger.
“Buyers of body parts and derivatives rarely specialize in any particular kind of animal. If a person illegally stores and resells parts of the body, for example, a bear or musk deer, or, as in this case, a trepang, then he can potentially do this for rare species of animals. The investigation has yet to establish for what purpose the suspect kept a tincture of tiger bones - for sale or for personal consumption. Regardless of this, a citizen has violated the law and should be punished if it is proven guilty,” - comments Sergey Aramilev, director of the Amur Tiger Center, Primorsky branch.
Unfortunately, the bones of the Amur tiger are used in Chinese traditional medicine, are considered a source of strength and health for the human body. However, scientific medicine has not found and still has not proved that tiger bones, like other parts of his body, contain substances that would in any way affect the physiological state of a person. The seeming improvement in the body when using this tincture is achieved by the "placebo" effect. Therefore, there is a steady demand for the bones of the Amur tiger. A similar case occurred recently, in September 2015. Then, in Ussuriysk, Primorsky Krai, in a catering establishment, a tank with an alcohol-containing solution containing the bones of an Amur tiger was seized.
Recall that even for the storage of the remains of the Amur tiger there is a criminal penalty under article 258.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Photo: FSB Border Department in the Primorsky Krai