CEN_TigerDish_01.jpg

CEN_TigerDish_01.jpg

Pic shows: Police seized the heads and skins of tigers and leopards from a restaurant where they were being chopped up for meat.nnRussian cops have seized the heads and skins of tigers and leopards from a restaurant where they were being chopped up for meat and served as delicacy dishes.nnThe officers also confiscated 110 pounds of meat they believe came from a rare Amur tiger and Amur leopard.nnThe restaurant on the outskirts of the Russian capital Moscow prided itself on serving up what it called exotic and expensive dishes.nnBut police suspect that they also ran a lucrative trade in not only serving customers the dead animals to eat but also in selling on the remains to Asian markets for use in traditional medicine.nnA police spokesman said: “We are working on the assumption that the animals were hunted and killed to facilitate the restaurant offering exotic and lucrative dishes.nn”It is also possible that the remains not used in cooking could be sold on for high sums to the traditional Asian medicine market.nn”One kilogramme of tiger meat can fetch around 1,000 GBP.nn”Heads are estimated to be valued at 2,500 GBP while the tiger skin is estimated to be worth around 7,000 GBP.nn”Tiger meat is quite popular amongst certain members of the elite because they believe that eating them improves performance from the boardroom to the bedroom.”nnAccording to the World Wide Fund For Nature, both the Amur leopard and tiger are endangered species with the leopard being labelled as critically endangered.nnPolice are now questioning a Vietnamese employee of the restaurant on suspicion of killing and trafficking the animals to Moscow.nn(ends)