A tiger skeleton stands in a vat of tiger bone wine at the Siberian Tiger Park in Haerbin, Heilongjiang Province, China. Image used in Tiger Farms episode of Current TV Vanguard.
A tiger skeleton stands in a vat of tiger bone wine at the Siberian Tiger Park in Haerbin, Heilongjiang Province, China. Image used in Tiger Farms episode of Current TV Vanguard.
I couldn't be more excited that the two pictures below from Harbin's Siberian Tiger Park appear in a new documentary for Current TV's Vanguard television series (view the trailer above, or here if you can't see the embedded video). The episode, "Tiger Farms," focuses on the illegal trade of tiger parts and products with footage from China, India, and Burma. It's an issue close to own interests--see my work on China's zoos and an extended take of pictures from the Harbin Siberian Tiger Park--and I'm glad to see it get such an in-depth treatment. How the pictures came to be in the documentary is an interesting story. More than a year ago, I received an email out of the blue from a Vanguard producer asking if I could share any information about tiger zoos. They'd seen my work on my website and wanted to get video of some of the things I'd photographed. I let them know what I knew (which wasn't much...they got much better access than I ever had) and wished them well. But, early this summer I got another email from a producer asking if they could use my pictures. When their crews traveled to the Harbin park, the vat of tiger bone wine, seen in my pictures below, was nowhere to be found. They wanted to show evidence of the wine being displayed in a public place in China, and I had it. A little back and forth negotiation on fees and terms, and voila, my pictures showed up on television.
Check your local listings for when the show will be broadcast in your area. They've been playing it on Current TV at least once a week lately.