Endangered Tiger Carcass Seized at Vietnam Restaurant

Police in Hanoi seized an endangered wild tiger carcass from a restaurant where it was being boiled down to make an expensive traditional medicine.

According to the Tuoi Tre newspaper the restaurant’s owner purchased the 330-pound animal for $8,500 and was rendering it down into a paste.  He was going to sell the “medicine” for a few hundred dollars an ounce.

This isn’t the first time the restaurant owner has been in trouble.  Back in 2007 he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for possessing the carcasses of two wild tigers.

Endangered animal trafficking is big business, especially in Asia where the animals are highly prized for their use in traditional medicine.  According to the World Wildlife Fund there has been an uptick in use due to a developing interest in traditional medicine in Western countries.