A protest held by the Greenpeace, called "Save the Tiger, Refuse Breeze", took place at the north Chaoyang branch of the French supermarket chain Auchan.

A group of volunteers of the Greenpeace protest in front of an Auchan supermarket in Beijing. [Zou Hong / China Daily]

Protestors were trying to stop the supermarket from buying and selling toilet paper and other paper products sourced from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), part of the Sinar Mas group, which they say contributes to deforestation and endangers scarce Sumatran tigers.

Three Greenpeace volunteers dressed up as Sumatran tigers buried in piles of APP's famous toilet paper brand, Breeze.

"We sent out a public letter to APP's key accounts this January. Companies such as Nestle, Proctor & Gamble and Unilever responded to us and gave us a timetable about when they would cancel their contracts with APP. Auchan was the only one which completely ignored our proposition," said Ma Lichao, Greenpeace China's forest campaigner.

There are only 400 to 500 Sumatran tigers left. Greenpeace and other environmental groups say APP's expanding pulping operations are infringing on what little habitat Sumatran tigers have left.

"2010 is the Year of the Tiger, but tigers are vanishing for toilet paper, of all things. Even though Auchan is now fully aware of where and how APP is getting its paper, it insists on selling tiger-blood soaked Breeze products," said Ma.

Greenpeace released a new report Paper is fiercer than tigers the same day. It details APP's operations in Sumatra and their devastating effect on tigers.

"We are communicating with our headquarters in Shanghai. As a single shop, we had no idea about the APP case before you came here. After a negotiation, I think the purchasing department will put forward a solution," said Li Xueqin, the branch's assistant manager.

The protest, especially the three 'tigers', drew a lot of attention.

"I was a loyal Breeze consumer, but now that I know about more about the product's background, I will choose another brand," said an onlooker surnamed Wang.

But an elderly man surnamed Li said that he will just continue to use Breeze because he is accustomed to it and because he found the protest confusing.

In October 2009, Greenpeace tested paper products from APP's Gold East Paper mill in China to see if they were made using fiber from plants found in intact tropical rainforests or from vegetation grown on plantations. The test were carried out at an independent laboratory in the US.

Out of the five papers tested, four contained fiber from plants found in intact rainforests. Sumatra's dwindling rainforest is also its tigers' habitat.

"We will go on urging Auchan to give us a definite answer as well as carry out more actions to call on the public to refuse APP's toilet paper," said Ma.