Canadian company – Wing Quon Enterprises Ltd., which specialised in Chinese traditional medicines is to pay the bulk of a $45,000 fine for trading illegally in tiger parts to TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network that helped secure its conviction.

The company pleaded guilty to possessing and attempting to sell medicines containing parts from Tigers and other protected species in a Richmond Provincial Court earlier this week.

TRAFFIC, whose expertise helped secure the conviction, are to receive the bulk of this sum, some $40,000.

The company was also ordered to forfeit seized medicines and products made from other endangered species, including costus root, agarwood, bear, pangolin, musk deer and rhinoceros. All are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which imposes strict controls on listed plants, wildlife and their derivatives.

TRAFFIC, which operates globally, was established as a partnership between WWF, the world’s leading conservation organization, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a global consortium of government, scientific and civil society organizations.