TCM, a prescription for extinction

"TRADITIONAL Chinese medicine is thousands of years older than its Western counterpart and founded on completely different principles," writes prolific author Richard Ellis in his latest book, "Tiger Bone and Rhino Horn." An artist and research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, he was gathering information about the threat of extinction of rhinos, tigers and bears in Asia and learned that these critically endangered species continue to be killed for medicinal use of their body parts. "I wanted to sound the alarm," Ellis states, because "if the necessary steps are not taken quickly, we will lose forever some of the most charismatic animals on earth."

Traditional Chinese medicine (Ellis calls it TCM) seeks "to correct internal imbalances rather than to treat symptoms alone," he explains; its holistic approach emphasizes prevention, aiming to sustain or restore bodily harmony, to balance yin and yang. Where Western medicine relies on gradually standardized medications and procedures, TCM remains "a healing art" tailored to each person's unique needs. While Western medicine developed bacteriology, surgery and synthetic drugs, TCM retained acupuncture and ancient therapies formulated from herbs, vegetables, minerals and at least 1,500 animal species.

Most of these animals are domestic or plentiful. But since almost all must be killed to produce ingredients for TCM, endangered species are particularly vulnerable now. Not only are their native habitats dwindling, crowded by human development and imperiled by pollution and global warming, but demand has also seen a dramatic upswing in the last 20 years. Conservation organizations and some governments are attempting to protect certain animals and to enforce bans on trading them. The law of supply and demand, however, makes rare creatures all the more lucrative to poachers, driving up prices and black-market sales worldwide. Ellis makes a powerful case that the time for change has arrived.

Five species of rhinoceros still exist: three Asian and two African. "Javan and Sumatran rhinos are on the brink of extinction," he notes. So few black rhinos remain "that many are literally kept under armed guard," allowed to forage by day then penned at night. White rhino is the only species not critically endangered, but as Asian populations diminish, poaching increases in Africa.