Inside the illegal tiger farm in the Czech Republic where big cats were slaughtered, chopped up and boiled down to be made into stock cubes worth £1,500 per ounce in Asia

  • Images show a dead big cat and chopped up bones at a tiger farm in Prague
  • Investigators say they found pelts and cooking pots filled with meat and bones
  • Bones boiled down to stock cubes 'worth up to £52 a gram', investigators said

By Julian Robinson for MailOnline

Published: 11:07 EST, 19 November 2018 | Updated: 12:52 EST, 19 November 2018

These gruesome pictures show the inside of an illegal tiger farm in the Czech Republic where big cats were butchered before being boiled down to be turned into stock cubes.

Inspectors found a freshly killed tiger and an unplugged freezer stuffed full of rotting remains when they raided the facility in the capital, Prague.

They found a large cooking pot filled with meat and bones while valuable pelts were also stashed in the house.

Investigators say tigers were being killed, chopped up and cooked down. Through surveillance, they found that tiger bones turned into stock cubes were worth up to £52 per gram - the equivalent of £1,472 per ounce. 

Claws, meanwhile were said to be worth nearly £90 each and pelts worth up to £3,500.

Gruesome pictures show the inside of an illegal tiger farm in the Czech Republic where big cats were butchered before being boiled down to be turned into stock cubes
Gruesome pictures show the inside of an illegal tiger farm in the Czech Republic where big cats were butchered before being boiled down to be turned into stock cubes

Gruesome pictures show the inside of an illegal tiger farm in the Czech Republic where big cats were butchered before being boiled down to be turned into stock cubes

Inspectors found a freshly killed tiger in a shed and an unplugged freezer stuffed full of rotting remains (pictured) when they raided the facility in the capital, Prague

Inspectors found a freshly killed tiger in a shed and an unplugged freezer stuffed full of rotting remains (pictured) when they raided the facility in the capital, Prague

Investigators say tigers were being killed, chopped up and cooked down. They said tiger bones turned into stock cubes were worth up to £52 per gram - the equivalent of £1,472 per ounce. Claws, meanwhile were said to be worth nearly £90 each and pelts worth up to £3,500

Investigators say tigers were being killed, chopped up and cooked down. They said tiger bones turned into stock cubes were worth up to £52 per gram - the equivalent of £1,472 per ounce. Claws, meanwhile were said to be worth nearly £90 each and pelts worth up to £3,500

According to the Guardian, officers who carried out the raid after a five-year probe, found demand for traditional medicine containing tiger products was driven in part by the Vietnamese population.

Some of that demand came from within a Czech-Vietnamese community which emerged when workers arrived from the South East Asian country during Czechoslovakia's communist era.

At the time of the raid this summer, Robert Šlachta from the Customs Directorate, said: 'The tiger we discovered was shot in the eye and in the neck, so that the skin would stay intact and could be sold on the black market. 

'According to our information, the cooking of the tiger meat took five to twelve days and all parts of the animal, including the pelts, teeth or claws, were intended for commercial purposes.'

Investigators say they picked up the trail of evidence in 2013 when tiger bones were discovered in a Vietnamese man's vehicle having received them from a breeding unit in Slovakia.

Inspectors also found a large cooking pot filled with meat and bones while valuable pelts were also stashed in the house

Inspectors also found a large cooking pot filled with meat and bones while valuable pelts were also stashed in the house

Tiger remains, including this pelt, were found stashed inside the property in the Czech Republic

Tiger remains, including this pelt, were found stashed inside the property in the Czech Republic

Investigators say they picked up the trail of evidence in 2013 when tiger bones were discovered in a Vietnamese man's vehicle having received them from a breeding unit in Slovakia

Investigators say they picked up the trail of evidence in 2013 when tiger bones were discovered in a Vietnamese man's vehicle having received them from a breeding unit in Slovakia

A tiger carcass is moved into the back of a van by officials in the Czech Republic

A tiger carcass is moved into the back of a van by officials in the Czech Republic

Further products were found to have come from the Czech Republic and the trail eventually led to a member of a circus family known to breed tigers and lions.

Investigators say he was taking them to a taxidermist who, together with another suspect, would cut up and cook the tigers at his property. 

Surveillance operations then revealed the amount of money the gang stood to make from selling the processed animals. 

Three men have been charged with offences relating to the illegal killing and trade of protected species, the Guardian reports.

According to Radio Prague, Erik Geuss, from the the Czech Environmental Inspectorate, said illegal trade in tigers had become a growing problem in the country.

Surveillance operations revealed the amount of money the gang stood to make from selling the processed animals

Surveillance operations revealed the amount of money the gang stood to make from selling the processed animals

Investigators found this dead tiger when they raided the building in Prague, the Czech capital

Investigators found this dead tiger when they raided the building in Prague, the Czech capital

'In recent years, we have observed an increase in the illegal export of tigers and other felines from the Czech Republic. 

'This is because there is quite a large Asian community living in the Czech Republic and there is a substantial demand for tiger products in that region.

'There are currently around 400 tigers registered by CITES in the Czech Republic but only around 40 of them live in zoological gardens. 

'And while tigers kept in zoos live to around the age of 20, those kept by private breeders only live around five years.'

 

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Inside the illegal Czech farm where tigers were slaughtered and boiled down for stock cubes

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