Beijing: China’s wealthy like to dine on tigers. In fact, they will even watch them die first and then boast about it on social media. These revelations were made after police busted an illegal tiger-eating dinner club in Guangdong province last week, media reports said.
According to a report in the state-run regional newspaper Nanfang Daily, police crashed the party of wealthy businessmen and government officials in the city of Leizhou just as they prepared to nibble on a freshly slaughtered cat. The raid occurred after a drunken dinner guest accidentally posted several grisly pictures of the event on social media, the Nanfang Daily reported.
The article claims that the feasts serve as both entertainment and an ostentatious display of wealth for the Chinese elite who want to impress their connections and clients.
“Tiger Feasts” are allegedly quite popular amongst corrupt government officials and elite businessmen who believe consuming the big cats improves performance across a wide range of activities from the boardroom to the bedroom. Wild tigers are rare in China. What was thought to be the last wild Indochinese tiger was killed and eaten by a man who was sentenced to 12 years in jail in 2009.
