Every year, around 100,000 of these mammals are taken from the wild and sold illegally. That is an alarming rate of roughly 1 every 5 minutes. It’s not a creature that many people are familiar with, in fact many people probably aren’t even aware of its existence. The world’s most trafficked mammal is not a rhino or an elephant, but a small anteater-like creature known as the PANGOLIN.
So what is a Pangolin you might ask?
Currently, there are eight species of pangolin, four African and four Asian. Of these, the Chinese and Sunda pangolins are critically endangered; the Philippine and Indian species are endangered; and the four African species (Black-bellied, White-bellied, Giant Ground and Tremminck’s Ground) are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
It looks like an anteater, with its long thin snout and extremely long tongue lubricated with sticky saliva to prise ants and termites out of their mounds, but in terms of their classification, they are deemed to be more closely related to the Carnivora order, which includes wolves, bears and big cats.
As a species, they are truly unique in the fact that they are the only known mammal to have a body covered in scales and it is this unique quality which lies at the heart of their current fight for survival.
Why are they in danger?
Southeast Asia, (particularly the Chinese and Vietnamese) believe that pangolin scales (despite being made of keratin, the same substance as our hair and nails) can cure cancer, and a surge in demand over the last decade has seen black market prices skyrocket. It is thought that a kilogram of pangolin scales can fetch as much as $3000. Pangolins provide easy money for poachers as the pangolin’s main defence mechanism is to simply curl into a ball, much like a hedgehog. This makes it incredibly simple for people to just pick them up off the ground.
With it being so easy to obtain pangolins, the illegal trade in them is vast, which has caused the Asian species to suffer. With their numbers now dwindling, it is a huge worry that the demand could outweigh supply, meaning that traders will now look to the African species to meet it. I read recently in the latest Traffic International bulletin that there is already evidence of this happening in Nigeria, with 5185kg of scales being seized over six separate incidents in 2015. If this trend continues unabated, there is a real risk to the survival of all eight species.
How should we protect them?
Upgrade Their CITES Listing
At the moment all species of Pangolin are listed on Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). This means that trade is regulated, only being allowed if exporting countries have permits. However, there is a zero export quota on the Asian species, which means that all international commercial trade is banned. Personally, considering the current situation of the Asian species and the effect that illegal trade is beginning to have on the population of African species, I feel that they should probably be upgraded to CITES Appedix I, which would ban all international trade in the species.
Captive Breeding?
A lot of species that are suffering badly due to the illegal wildlife trade, such as tigers, rhino and elephants; are kept in zoos and are part of a worldwide breeding program. So why don’t zoos try and establish a pangolin breeding program? The simple answer is that unfortunately they are a species that do not thrive in captivity. In fact, only six zoos in the world keep pangolins. It is unknown exactly why they do no thrive, but many of those that have died in captivity usually died from digestive problems, which suggests that there is a lack of knowledge about these creatures’ eating habits in the wild. With no substantial captive population to breed from, it is even more critical that the wild populations are protected before it is too late to save them.
Deterrence
As is often the case with the illegal wildlife trade, the rewards often outweigh the risks. In order to stop poaching, there needs to be a strong deterrent. In pangolin strongholds, anti-poaching patrols should operate regularly to catch poachers in the act and to deter others from engaging in this illegal activity. Furthermore, sentences need to be harsher in order to ensure that people do not consider poaching to be a worthy activity. Other countries should follow Zimbabwe’s example. Here, ¾ of seizures in 2015 resulted in a 9 year prison sentence for at least one party involved, and this has resulted in a decrease in pangolin poaching here, suggesting that harsher sentences do work as deterrents.
Education
Southeast Asian countries are under the impression that pangolin scales can cure various ailments and consider their meat to be a delicacy. In order to curb the ever-increasing demand, cooperation with the main consumer countries (China and Vietnam) is needed to investigate reasons for demand and develop strategies to diffuse these beliefs. As well as this, the plight of the pangolin needs to be publicised more widely. I’m sure there are numerous people in the world that have never even heard of such a creature. If more people knew of its existence, they may be more inclined to worry about its plight and aid in efforts to save it from extinction.
If things don’t improve soon, there is a real risk that the Asian pangolins will be hunted to extinction and then the African pangolins will bear the full brunt of this relentless trade. It would be such a shame if we were to lose such a unique creature. It really is one of a kind and like no other creature alive today.
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