PANGOLINS
ARE AMONG THE MOST TRAFFICKED OF MAMMALS
April
10, 2019
Plain
English Version
Pangolins
are a housecat-sized, forest-dwelling mammal. They look like
an armor-clad anteater. Pangolin meat is a delicacy in southern
China. People prize its scales as an ingredient in traditional
Chinese medicine. The world had banned trade in pangolin
products since 2016.
Pangolins are threatened
with
extinction.
Authorities recently found a shipment of 14 tons of pangolin scales
in Singapore. Poachers
killed about 36,000 pangolins for the shipment. It is the biggest
seizure
of
pangolin scales on
record.
The
animal is about gone in most of its native range in Southeast
Asia. Poachers are killing them at alarming levels in
Central Africa. Four of the eight species are now endangered.
One
problem is the pangolin’s defense against predators. It
will curl itself into a ball. This
defense reaction has made it an easy target
for
hunters.
China
is the biggest wildlife market in the world. About 70 percent of
Chinese people believe that pangolin meat can cure human ailments.
The ailments range from rheumatism to skin
diseases. Consumers often use pangolin parts in wine or powder form.
It is part of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions.
The
second biggest market
for pangolins
is Vietnam. Many Vietnamese see pangolin meat as a luxury. It is a
sign of social
status and wealth. In January 2019, Hong Kong authorities found
nine tons of pangolin scales on
a cargo ship. The vessel was bound
to Vietnam
from Nigeria.
The
center for criminal wildlife trade is Hong
Kong.
The city sits on
the doorstep of mainland
China. Pangolin products are not hard
to find
in Hong Kong. The territory accounted
for more
pangolin seizures than in any country.
On
a well-trafficked road, the clerk at one small shop
offered pangolin scales to a customer. The shop was careful not to
keep the product on the premises. The clerk said, “We sell a
lot, and we have been doing this business for a long time.” She
said that with a phone call she could deliverer it in half
an hour. Getting it across the border was easy as “we just
grind it into powder.”
Hong
Kong is also the world’s premier port of entry for legal
wildlife products. The city is much like its neighbor, Guangdong
province. The province is a center of traditional Chinese medicine
and ivory craftsmanship. It is a place where the consumption of
wildlife for food is also ingrained.
Hong
Kong is the hub of global wildlife trading, legal and illegal.
Policing the traffic in pangolins is not a high priority.
The
pangolin is in grave danger.
Source:
The New York Times April
8, 2019
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