China businessman jailed for 13 years over tiger feast

A Chinese businessman who bought and ate three tigers has been sentenced to 13 years in prison, state media reported yesterday.

The wealthy real estate developer, identified only by his surname Xu, has "a special hobby of grilling tiger bones, boning tiger paws, storing tiger penis, eating tiger meat and drinking tiger blood alcohol," the official Xinhua news agency said in June when he went on trial.

Xu organised three separate trips last year for a total of 15 people, including himself, to Leizhou in the southern province of Guangdong, where they bought tigers for a "huge amount of money" that were killed and dismembered as they watched, the government-run news portal gxnews.com.cn reported Tuesday.

One of them filmed the entire process of a tiger slaughter with his mobile phone. The footage was later obtained by police.

Police seized eight pieces of animal meat and bones from a refrigerator in Xu's home, some of which were later identified as tiger parts, including a penis, the report said, adding that 16 geckos and a cobra were also found.

A court in Guangxi earlier this year convicted the 15 of "illegally transporting precious and endangered wild animal products" but the conviction was not reported at the time.

Xu was sentenced to 13 years in prison and a fine of 1.55 million yuan ($25,000), gxnews.com.cn said, with the others jailed for terms between five and six and a half years, and given smaller fines.