The heads and skins of tigers and leopards have been discovered in a restaurant where they were chopped up for meat.
Russian police seized the remains of the endangered animals and also confiscated 110lbs of meat they believe came from a rare Amur tiger and leopard.
The restaurant, on the outskirts of the Russian capital Moscow, prided itself on serving 'exotic and expensive' dishes.
Some of the country's elite believe tiger meat will improve performance everywhere from the 'boardroom to the bedroom'.
The heads and skins of tigers and leopards have been discovered in a restaurant where they were chopped up for meat.
Russian police seized the remains of the endangered animals and also confiscated 110lbs of meat they believe came from a rare Amur tiger and leopard.
The restaurant, on the outskirts of the Russian capital Moscow, prided itself on serving 'exotic and expensive' dishes.
Some of the country's elite believe tiger meat will improve performance everywhere from the 'boardroom to the bedroom'.
Police suspect the restaurant made a lucrative trade in not only serving customers the dead animals to eat, but also by selling on the remains to Asian markets for use in traditional medicine.
A police spokesman said: 'We are working on the assumption that the animals were hunted and killed to facilitate the restaurant offering exotic and lucrative dishes.
'It is also possible that the remains not used in cooking could be sold on for high sums to the traditional Asian medicine market.
'One kilogramme of tiger meat can fetch around £1,000.
'Heads are estimated to be valued at £2,500 while the tiger skin is estimated to be worth around £7,000.
'Tiger meat is quite popular amongst certain members of the elite because they believe that eating it improves performance from the boardroom to the bedroom.'
According to the World Wide Fund For Nature, both the Amur leopard and tiger are endangered species with the former being labelled as critically endangered.
Police are now questioning a Vietnamese employee of the restaurant on suspicion of killing and trafficking the animals to Moscow.
(dailymail.co.uk)
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