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Medical Use of Animals

Fruit Bats

http://www.mongabay.com/external/monkey_brains.htm

February 25, 2003

MEDAN, Indonesia -- The eight fruit bats are trying to sleep, but it's not easy. At midday, they dangle from a stick alongside one of the busiest streets of this teeming city.

The bats hang head down, their feet and mouths bound tightly with rubber bands. Passing cars, buses and motorcycles belch so much smoke that the pollution at street level exceeds any smog alert standard. The bats' little ears twitch amid the cacophony of honking horns and revving engines.

But these bats are not destined to suffer long. Captured in the rainforest about an hour outside the city, they will be sold to passing motorists as a cure for asthma.

The recommended treatment is to cook the bat's heart and eat it.

Westerners might think that improving Medan's air quality would do more to help asthma sufferers. But here in Indonesia's fourth-largest city, there are many who believe that bat hearts are the answer.

"There is always a buyer," said roadside bat vendor Mat Unan, who estimates that he and his partners have sold as many as 500 bats at about $3 apiece in the last three years.

For best results, it is customary to remove the heart from the animal while it is alive.

"It's very brutal," said Hardi Baktiantoro, Jakarta coordinator of the animal protection group ProFauna Indonesia. "Even though legally we cannot do anything about it, we ask people to stop on ethical grounds. We ask them, is it ethical to torture the animals just for pleasure or medicine?"

Bats are not the only unusual animals on the menu in Indonesia. In various parts of the country, cobra blood, bear paws, sea turtle eggs, orangutan meat, crocodile and tiger penises, geckos, dried seahorses, monitor lizards, goat testicles, shark cartilage, pythons, sperm whales, rhinoceros horns and monkey brains are consumed as health remedies, impotency cures or gourmet treats.

The demand for some endangered species -- including the Sumatran tiger, the one-horned Javan rhinoceros, the Malayan sun bear and the green sea turtle -- has contributed to a dangerous decline in their numbers even though they are protected under Indonesian and international law.

In a nation with 300 ethnic groups scattered across 17,000 tropical islands, it is not surprising that Indonesians have a wide variety of eating habits. KFC, McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts are popular in urban areas. But on remote islands, local tribal traditions remain strong. In a few places, there are still instances of headhunting and cannibalism.

Much of the desire for peculiar foods is rooted in ideas of traditional medicine brought to the islands over the centuries by Chinese immigrants. Today, ethnic Chinese are among the main consumers of animal remedies.

This is a country where health care is woefully inadequate and established medical treatment can be prohibitively expensive. Some people suffering from long-term illness or impotency are desperate enough to try anything.

"These animals are endangered not because they cure ailments but because people believe they can," said Meutia Swasono, professor of medical anthropology at the University of Indonesia.

Indonesian medical experts say most legitimate traditional medicines are derived from plants, not animals. However, the belief in animal cures remains strong. Although about 85% of the population is Muslim, many Indonesians retain ancient animistic beliefs.

With little education, many are superstitious, and belief in black magic is widespread.

One animal product that might have some benefit is shark cartilage, which some studies -- though controversial -- suggest can be effective in preventing the spread of cancer, said Dr. Boyke Dian Nugraha, a noted Indonesian physician.

However, the greatest benefit from traditional animal medicine appears to be psychological, he said, noting that when people believe a cure is effective, their faith has a healing power. This is especially true when treating impotence, he said.

"When one believes in a treatment, it has already healed 50% of the illness," Nugraha said. "Since they believe, 'I will be strong. I will be powerful,' then they will be. It is not because of the traditional medicine, but because of the suggestive factor."

People everywhere have eating habits that can be hard for others to stomach. The French enjoy frog legs and snails. Australians eat kangaroos. Americans boil lobsters alive. Dogs are popular in much of Asia. Thais eat crickets, Japanese eat sea urchin eggs, and Chinese eat everything from raw scorpions to pickled ants. But in Indonesia, the variety and brutality are noteworthy.

Small restaurants and shops cater to popular demand for monitor lizard meat, bat hearts, raw monkey brains and cocktails made with cobra bile and blood. Some restaurants have been in business for decades.

There is no law in Indonesia against brutality toward animals. ProFauna has mounted education campaigns to improve the treatment of animals and worked with local police to curb the worst abuses, but the group and its supporters remain a small minority.

In Bali, sea turtles are butchered alive to keep the meat from sticking to the shell. In Sumatra, monkeys are burned to death before butchering in the belief that they will taste better if the blood is not drained from the body.

Perhaps most brutal of all is the treatment of the long-tail macaques. Some believe that eating the monkeys' brains can cure impotence. The practice has led to over-hunting, says ProFauna, which has campaigned against the slaughter.

Some establishments serve macaque at a special table with a hole in the center. The monkey is tied up and the top of its skull cut open with one slice of a sharp knife. The animal, still alive, is placed under the table so its head protrudes like a bowl. Arrack, a powerful native alcohol, is sometimes poured into the skull and mixed with the brain.

In the central Jakarta neighborhood of Kota, a shopkeeper who calls himself Cobra Man specializes in selling snakes, bats and dried lizard meat. He said he gets 10 to 20 orders a year for monkey brains.

"I feel pity, but I have to do it," he said. "It's my work."

Cobra Man said each week he sells about 100 cobras, all caught in the wild. Little of the snake goes to waste. Typically, he cuts off the head and drains the blood into a glass of arrack. He adds the bile and serves the drink as a treatment for respiratory ailments, skin problems, aches or indigestion. It is also said to improve a man's stamina and sex life.

As a cure for impotence, the cobra's penis can be soaked in arrack for a month much like a worm in a bottle of mescal. A bag of 50 snake penises sells for $11.50.

The concoctions are as varied as the imagination. One customer asked Cobra Man to boil a cobra live. When it was cooked, the man filtered the liquid and drank it.

The quest for cures is contributing to the near-extinction of some animals, particularly the rhinoceros, valued for its horn, and the sun bear, prized for its gall bladder and bile. Some bears are smuggled to China, where their parts are even more valuable. Though the Sumatran tiger is highly endangered, tiger penis can be found for sale in Jakarta, the capital, as a cure for impotence. The price: $40.

The arrival of Viagra might someday help reduce the slaughter of species that are believed to cure impotence. But for most Indonesians, Viagra is too expensive to replace traditional medicine. The smallest size of Viagra tablet, 25 milligrams, sells for the equivalent of $8, while a concoction made from cobra penis is only $3.50. The minimum wage here is about $50 a month.

One who swears by traditional remedies is Hajjah Nurdiani, 60. Five years of treatment with cobra bile and powdered shark cartilage cured her intestinal cancer, she claims. Nurdiani ate cobra bile every day for three years after learning of its benefits from a friend, she said. Worried that the bile would eventually shrink her bones, she switched to shark cartilage, a treatment she had read about in a magazine. Every day for two years, she drank an ounce of the powder mixed with water.

"The snake's bile tasted like nothing," she said. "But the shark's cartilage was loathsome."

Nurdiani, a devout Muslim who has taken the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, said the medicine worked because she had faith.

"I had a health checkup in 2001 and, thank God, the doctor did not find any cancer left in my body," she said. "I believed God would help me heal my illness. Shark's cartilage powder was just a tool."

In Medan, a city of 2.2 million people, Unan and a man who gave his name only as Dibah sell their bats under a large mahogany tree on busy Walikota Street, a block from the North Sumatra governor's mansion.

A major port city across the heavily traveled Malacca Strait from Malaysia, Medan has long been an entry point for Chinese immigrants.

The two men, along with a woman who declined to give her name, also sell turtle eggs for the equivalent of about 17 cents each. It is illegal because the turtles are endangered, but no one enforces the law.

The bats, with black wings and reddish-brown fur, are caught in the jungle by stringing a net between two trees. They are kept tied up day and night until they are sold. Two or three times a day, their keepers unbind their mouths for a few minutes and give them a few squirts of sugar water. Every once in a while, they are fed banana.

"You fry the heart and make the meat into a soup," Dibah said. "I feel nothing because I sell them as medicine to help other people."

Sari Sudarsono of The Times' Jakarta Bureau contributed to this report.

Sumatran Tigers Are Being Sold Into Extinction, Body Part By Body Part

Laws protecting the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger have failed to prevent tiger body parts being openly sold in Indonesia, according to a TRAFFIC report.

Tiger body parts, including canine teeth, claws, skin pieces, whiskers and bones, were on sale in 10 percent of the 326 retail outlets surveyed during 2006 in 28 cities and towns across Sumatra. Outlets included goldsmiths, souvenir and traditional Chinese medicine shops, and shops selling antique and precious stones.

The survey conservatively estimates that 23 tigers were killed to supply the products seen, based on the number of canine teeth on sale.

"This is down from an estimate of 52 killed per year in 1999-2002," said Julia Ng, program officer with TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and lead author on The Tiger Trade Revisited in Sumatra, Indonesia. "Sadly, the decline in availability appears to be due to the dwindling number of tigers left in the wild."

All of TRAFFIC's surveys have indicated that Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, and Pancur Batu, a smaller town situated about nine miles away, are the main hubs for the trade of tiger parts.

Despite TRAFFIC providing authorities with details of traders involved it is not clear whether any serious enforcement action has been taken, apart from awareness-raising activities.

"Because of poor enforcement the Sumatran tiger is slipping through our fingers," said Leigh Henry, program officer for TRAFFIC North America. "There are only about 400 Sumatran tigers left and such a small population can't sustain this level of poaching. If enforcement and political will are not bolstered the Sumatran tiger will be wiped out just as the Javan and Bali tigers were."

The report recommends that resources and efforts should concentrate on effective enforcement to combat the trade by arresting dealers and suppliers. Trade hotspots should be continually monitored and all intelligence be passed to the enforcement authorities for action. Those found guilty of trading in tigers and other protected wildlife should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

"We have to deal with the trade. Currently we are facing many other crucial problems which, unfortunately, are causing the decline of Sumatran tiger populations," explained Dr. Tonny Soehartono, director for biodiversity conservation, Ministry of Forestry of Republic of Indonesia. "We have been struggling with the issues of land use changes, habitat fragmentation, human-tiger conflicts and poverty in Sumatra. Land use changes and habitat fragmentation are driving the tiger closer to humans and thus creating human-tiger conflicts."

As a recent show of commitment, the President of the Republic of Indonesia launched the Conservation Strategy and Action Plan of Sumatran Tiger 2007-2017 during the 2007 Climate Change Convention in Bali.

Sumatra's few remaining tigers are also under threat from rampant deforestation by the pulp and paper and palm oil industries. The combined threats of habitat loss and illegal trade - unless tackled immediately - will be the death knell for Indonesian tigers.

"The Sumatran tiger is already listed as Critically Endangered on IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species, the highest category of threat before extinction in the wild," said Jane Smart, head of IUCN's Species Program. "We cannot afford to lose any more of these magnificent creatures."

As Indonesia currently chairs the ASEAN-Wildlife Enforcement Network, TRAFFIC National Coordinator Dr. Ani Mardiastuti suggested the country, "Demonstrate leadership to other ASEAN countries by taking action against illegal trade, including in tiger parts."

Want a piece of real tiger?

THERE are tiger parts - or what are said to be tiger parts - on sale in Singapore.

We know, because The New Paper went undercover to expose this illegal business.

We conducted three checks of Chinatown shops with members of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) in the past week.

Posing as interested buyers, we went in with a hidden camera.

The camera was in a bag. It had a small lens fixed next to a hole in the bag.

After less than 10 minutes of asking around, we found the first shop.

In the beginning, the shop assistant recommended ready-made concoctions in red-and-yellow boxes with lots of fine print.

When asked if they contained tiger parts, he said in Mandarin: 'Yes, all kinds of animals are used, but it can't be written down because tigers are protected.'

When pressed for actual tiger parts, he pointed us to his boss, who calmly took out a box from the display case.

Under the plastic lid was a dried penis with testes - dirty-yellow, and with a leathery texture. The shop owner pointed out the dark vein running the length of the organ and the small barbs at the end.

'You know how cats make so much noise when they have sex? It's because of the barbs. Tigers have them too,' said the man.

Based on a price of $20 per 'liang' (equivalent of 37.5g), it would cost over $400.

We then asked him about tiger bones. He said he would show us only if we were interested to buy.

When we nodded, he went to the back of the shop and took out a clear plastic bag containing four bones of various sizes. He got them from Indonesia 'a long, long time ago with other goods'.

'Twenty years ago, I sold a complete tiger skeleton to a Taiwanese for about $5,000 but I can't get any more stock now,' said the man.

We bought a small bone from him and went back two days later, claiming that soup made with the bone had been energizing.

He then said: 'If you really want, can find some more, it's possible.'

That bone, weighing about 30g, had cost $28.50 (which works out to $950 per kg).

At the next shop, the price was twice as high because the stock was '100 per cent guaranteed'. The lady boss took out brown bones from a box. She showed us that it was labeled 'tiger bone'.

She said: 'We used to sell to Koreans, but it's very hard to find tiger bones now. These are from Kelantan, if you really want more, I can ask around. They may be able to shoot one and get it out.'

She put the bones back on the shelves behind her, and gave us her name card should we decide to 'order a tiger'.

A man at the third shop showed us a few 'tiger bones', but insisted that he could not sell them because he needed to use them for making prescriptions.

When we insisted, he said he would check his storeroom to see if he had any to spare and asked us to come back a few days later.

On Monday, he not only took out $1,000 worth of tiger bones (about 380g), but also three paws, a tiger penis that he sells whole for $300, and small blocks of 'tiger paste' worth $100 each.

The dried paws were 'reserved' for a customer who wanted them for decorative purposes, with no claws missing.

All his 'goods' came from Indonesia, and he claimed to get new stocks every month.

'You have to use the parts as soon as possible after the tiger is killed, otherwise it's not as effective,' said the man.

But the tiger penis he showed us was very different from the one from the first shop, so which was real?

The answer came in an Agric-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) e-mail which had pictures of fake tiger penises confiscated recently.

The first shop had probably been selling the penis of a bull.

So what about the 'tiger bone' that was unusually cheap?

Even an expert like Dr Oh Soon Hock, a Singapore Zoo vet-cum-Chinese physician, couldn't tell for sure.

It was definitely too big to be from a domestic cat, and it did look like the hind-thigh bone of a three-month-old tiger cub he once X-rayed.

He said: 'It's possible that it's real but there's just no way to tell.'

Tigers in Sumatra may well go extinct in less than 10 years. But poachers are still killing them because of the money involved.

A tiger can be chopped down to head, skin, organs, meat and bones that are sold separately. And each portion can cost hundreds of dollars.

Some Chinese physicians believe that tiger parts are a potent medicine to rejuvenate men and even cure impotence.

It is understood that some shops found selling or displaying fake tiger penises are being investigated.

The penalties for illegal import and possession of tiger parts are a maximum fine of $5,000 and/or jail term of one year.

The penalties for violating the domestic ban of selling tiger parts and products are a fine of up to $2,000 and/or a jail term of three months.

Since 1986, it has been illegal to import and export tigers under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Wild Flora and Fauna (Cites).

Singapore also banned the sale and display of tiger parts, including pre-Cites stock which had been legally imported, in 1994.

Miss Lye Fong Keng, Head of AVA's Wildlife Regulatory Branch, said no-one has been caught smuggling tiger parts in the past five years.

Importers referred to AVA by the Health Sciences Authority must declare the list of ingredients in their products. Miss Lye said the aim was to ensure that the product does not contain parts of the tiger or other endangered species.

Pamphlets in Chinese have been given to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) physicians, importers, manufacturers and retailers to educate them against using parts, products and derivatives of endangered species.

She added: 'Dialogue sessions have also been held to inform the Singapore TCM Committee of Cites regulations and prohibitions. AVA officers conduct surveys and spot-checks on TCM shops around different parts of Singapore.'

AVA works closely with the local police, Customs and local and international non-governmental organisations to curb the illicit wildlife trade.

The public can help with tip-offs by calling AVA at 6227-0670.

WILDLIFE OFFICIAL: TAKE ACTION AGAINST POACHERS AND DEALERS

TIGER business is lucrative business in Singapore.

'We do not carry out any investigation outside of Indonesia but wildlife traders and tiger hunters here tell us that Sumatran tiger bones are worth thousands in Singapore,' said Mr Sapto Sakti, senior manager of communications and outreach of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Indonesia.

At least 116 tigers were killed in Sumatra between 1998 and 2002, 42 of them in Riau province.

Riau's numerous ports act as exit points for smugglers to bring tigers to Singapore.

Illegal logging also shrinks the tiger's natural habitat, making it easier to hunt them.

Indonesia has already lost tiger species in Java and Bali, and less than 500 Sumatran tigers were recorded in 1999.

Ms Debbie Martyr of Fauna and Flora International in Kerinci Seblat National Park thinks the WWF figure is 'a considerable understatement' as it doesn't include data from other groups.

She believes that dealers in Singapore and Malaysia are buying tiger bone and pelts from Sumatra and selling it elsewhere.

'Tiger bone value rises sharply each time it is sold. Our data shows that a poacher may receive only US$17 ($29.60) per kg of tiger bone but this figure more than doubles by the time it reaches provincial capitals,' said Ms Martyr.

While it's important to destroy the consumer market, she wants to see more effective legal sanctions against poachers, brokers and big dealers.

Mr Chris Shepherd of Traffic South-east Asia, a wildlife trade monitoring network, said more funds are needed to train enforcement officers in Southeast Asian agencies in investigation techniques and how to identify tiger products.

He said: 'Tigers are in a really critical situation so better co-ordination and communication between countries are needed now. The people who work for AVA are good, but there's just not enough of them.'

DOCTORS say there is no scientific basis for the use of tiger parts to cure diseases.

Three urology specialists dismissed the belief that problems like erectile dysfunction (ED) can be cured by consuming tiger genitalia.

'It consists of nothing extraordinary except muscle, blood vessels and fats with no real remedy. What we recommend is a proper history and physical examination,' said Dr Lim Kok Bin, registrar of Singapore General Hospital's urology department.

Dr James Tan of Tan Tock Seng Hospital, who was the principal researcher in Singapore's first major study on ED, said it's all 'very mythical'.

'Drying or cooking the tiger penis, or soaking it in wine, will denature the hormones, so there will be no effect.'

Adjunct professor Peter Lim, medical director of Gleneagles' Andrology Urology and Continence centre, agreed: 'Even if you eat it raw, it will just be digested.

FOLKLORE

'It's Chinese folklore that believes that if you're weak in the leg, take chicken leg; if it's the brain, take fish brain.'

Dr Jean-Paul Ly, a vet who is also a clinical nutritionist, strongly advises against using that line of reasoning.

He said: 'There are many animal diseases that we haven't even begun to understand. We took decades to realise we could get BSE (the human form of mad cow disease) from beef. Why put yourselves at risk for nothing?

'Synthetic hormones available are of higher concentrations and they are safer. Most ED cases have nothing to do with hormones anyway, it's psychological.'

As for bone and joint problems, tiger bones have no proven value, said associate professor Wong Hee Kit, a senior consultant of the National University Hospital's orthopaedic surgery department.

In traditional Chinese medicine, tiger bone is believed to have anti-inflammatory effects in the treatment of arthritis and rheumatism.

While Dr Oh Soon Hock, who has been a Chinese physician since 1995, believes in its effectiveness, he said that people should use alternatives since tigers are so endangered.

He said: 'Instead of rhino horn, people used water buffalo horn. So something similar can be done for tiger bones.'