Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

The third Saturday in February every year gets celebrated as World Pangolin Day, a day earmarked to draw attention and awareness about this endangered yet most trafficked mammal in the world.

More than a million mammals were abducted from their wild habitats just between 2013 to 2020, the year that also saw the worldwide reach of the pandemic that has been speculated to be born out of such illegal trafficking markets operating in unhealthy and inhumane conditions.

And these notorious markets still continue to survive.

Why does the Pangolin remain so exposed to exploitation?

The usefulness of this venerable mammal makes its existence difficult in a world dominated by human beings, though it has managed to survive through 85 million years of Evolution.

Various parts of these scaly anteaters have been traditionally used as privileged delicacies and tonic foods in different cultures, in preparation of medicines from diseases ranging asthma to psoriasis and for local customary practices.

Scales are used as rings or charms, its skin is diverted to alternative use of leather goods like boots, bags.

The Pangolin World and their place in the world:

These mammals belong to the Manidae family and comprise of eight species found across the continents of Asia and Africa.

According to TRAFFIC’s senior analyst: “Asia’s pangolin traffickers are relentless, and the damage being done is not just to Asia’s four endangered pangolin species. The illegal trade and an insatiable demand for pangolins continues to drain wild pangolin populations in Africa too.”

The native Asian species: Malayan or Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica), Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), thick-tailed pangolin (Manis crassicaudata), Philippine pangolin (Manis culionensis).

The native African species: the black-bellied pangolin (Uromanis tetradactyla), giant ground pangolin (Smutsia gigantae), African white-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) and Temminck’s ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii).

All the above eight species of pangolin are facing extinction threats and rapid population decline because of the habitat loss in addition to an extensive poaching.

This has thrown the species to Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora way back in 2016, asserting that these cannot be traded worldwide.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species lists two of the African species as “vulnerable” and two others as “endangered”, while the three Asiatic species are “critically endangered” and the other remains “endangered”.

Pangolins have therefore, long served as the poster child for depicting illegal trade.

However, there have been whispers of a ninth pangolin specie being on the brink of being discovered, amidst the scientific world.

 

Is the trafficking inevitable?

Despite several attempts for preservation of the specie, there have been major instances of such a critically endangered animal being trafficked easily.

 

Earlier this month, the Madhya Pradesh unit of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) in collaboration with the Chhattisgarh forest department seized about 19kg of pangolin scales in addition to four star turtles and six leopard claws for sale in the region.

Why has it been difficult to track Pangolin trade?

“Pangolin poaching cases are difficult to track. They are small mammals, and their scales can be transported easily. Moreover, they are found in different kinds of habit out of the forest area, for example, the eastern plain areas house a good number of pangolin population”, explains a wildlife expert.

“On an average, one can retrieve around 500 gm scales from an adult pangolin. To get 67.5 kg, you need over 100 pangolins. Majority of pangolin poaching cases go unnoticed. This is mostly found in the grasslands and dry rocky areas that border the villages.”

“Villagers have stray dogs that trained in sniffing pangolins out of their hiding places. The meat is consumed, and scales are collected. There is no organized market, so the culprits are not caught.”

Worldwide, Nigeria has become a major hub for trade in pangolin scales and other parts.

190,407 kg of pangolin products, were confiscated in Nigeria alone between 2010 and 2021 translating it to at least 800,000 dead beings. 

If we are to account the seizures by the enforcement agencies in Asia from just 2015 to 2021, more than 330 tonnes of pangolins as well as their organs have been found.

And as per the TRAFFIC data, 91% of this contraband comes from China (including the SAR), Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

China and Vietnam are the biggest markets and post the pandemic concerns, Chinese government removed the pangolin scales from a list holding these as approved ingredients in traditional medicine.

“The way in which the trafficking happens is still a big question mark for us. We don’t know how pangolins are being killed, how scales are being harvested. That is something that continues to be a huge impediment in tackling the trade.”

But does the killing happen for only scales and other lavishness. A few investigators have a different story to tell: “The number one motivation of the decimation of wildlife in Africa is bushmeat be it the Pangolin, because people are hungry.”

“In my study site, Cross River National Park in Nigeria, people do not go out hunting pangolins. They actually get pangolins as part of the general wildmeat hunting.”

If this is the case, there is a greater need for empowerment of local authorities so that they can aware the people of the benefits of conservation. But this cannot happen on an empty stomach.

The world and sustainers of this illicit trade shall come together for extending courtesy to these developing nations in the form of food and livelihoods.

Also, the world has reached a point where technology can help us use genetic data like DNA to trace and monitor an animal that shall not be sacrificed for the sake of human greed that never ends.

By Alaina Ali Beg

I am a lover of all arts and therefore can dream myself in all places where the World takes me. I am an avid animal lover and firmly believes that Nature is the true sorcerer.

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