Make no bones about it: Jackie Chan likes tigers!
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By Yomiuri Shimbun
Jackie Chan has been participating in a high-profile campaign against products made of tiger bones.
The Hong Kong movie star has been appearing in advertisements produced by a U.S. wildlife conservation organization. The ads, which are in Cantonese and English, have been airing on television in Hong Kong and Taiwan since last year.
A version of the ad with Japanese subtitles is to be completed by February and the organization is searching for a sponsor to broadcast the ads here.
"The year 1998 is the year of tiger," Chan quietly says at the start of the advertisement. He goes on to say that only 5,000 tigers remain on Earth, and that tigers are being killed so their bones can be used in herbal medicine. The next scene shows the skull of a tiger being crushed, burned in a furnace and turned into powder. Then Chan appears again, telling the audience to avoid products made of the rare species.
The commercial was produced by Global Survival Network, a nongovernmental organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. It is active internationally and has provided Russia with funds to protect Siberian tigers.
According to 1996 statistics compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, only about 5,000 to 7,200 tigers survive. They are concentrated in five areas of the world: Bengal, Indochina, Amur (Siberia), Sumatra and Amoy, China.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna bans the commercial trade of all tiger species. However, some kinds of herbal medicine made of tiger bones continues to be sold, including a liquor. The traders claim that they secured a considerable amount of the bones before the convention went into effect and that they still have plenty in stock.
Elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns, turtle shells and bear organs are also reportedly being used in herbal medicine and craft products. The latter half of the advertisement shows graphic scenes of these rare species being captured and dismembered.
The demand for and supply of such products centers on Asia, including Japan. Masakatsu Nagasawa, the network's Japanese representative, said: "It is highly likely that many rare species have been poached after the trade of such animals was banned. So curbing purchases in Asia of the products made of such species will be effective in protecting the animals."
Chan reportedly volunteered to appear in the video. "In Asia, there are some areas where processing of rare species is a major local industry. So it must have required great courage for Chan to accept the advertisement job," Nagasawa said.
UPDATE: This video was shown in the UK on the 6th of April 1999, as a part of a BBC documentary called "Chasing The Tiger". This 50 minute primetime BBC 1 program also featured Jackie being interviewed by the BBC's Julian Pettifer. Jackie spoke very passionately about the desperate need to stop using Tiger products.