(Express) - China is allowing the sale of captive-bred tiger skins and body parts – flouting a UN agreement which calls for such trade to be banned, according to an environmental lobby group. Huddled in filthy cages and starved to the extent their fur is hanging off their jutting bones, these once majestic creatures are mercilessly being killed to decorate the homes of the elite, while their bones are ground down to make “tonic” wines. As few as 3,500 tigers survive in the wild, yet more than 5,000 captive-bred tigers are held in sickening Chinese ‘farms’ and ‘zoos’. Now, pictures released by environmental campaigners shame China’s failed efforts to protect these endangered creatures.