In honour of World Pangolin Day, wildlife conservationists are bringing attention to pangolins, one of the most smuggled wildlife mammals worldwide.
The fight to save the pangolin, considered one of the most endangered species in the world, is a tough battle for wildlife conservationists.
Call to action
Despite full international trade bans, the pangolin is being widely smuggled for their keratin-made scales due to the widespread belief that pangolin scales can treat a variety of illnesses when used in traditional medicine.
Additionally, pangolins are also hunted for their meat.
This means that large criminal networks cannot be the exclusive focus of protection initiatives, wildlife conservationists noted.
They also need to have grassroots collaboration to develop more sustainable ways of co-existing with wildlife.
They must also address both the domestic demand for meat and the international black market.
In the wild, the pangolin’s keratin scales act as a defence mechanism against predators.
When a predator approaches, a pangolin does not fight nor flee; instead, it curls into a ball which cannot be broken open easily by other animals.
However, this makes it easier for them to be targeted by animal hunters.
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Statistics and reports
According to estimates from the World Wildlife Fund, more than a million pangolins have been removed from their natural habitat in the last ten years, including pangolins that were never intercepted.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES, the international body that oversees the trade of endangered plant and animal species, reports that anti-trafficking operations confiscated over half a million pangolins between 2016 and 2024.
There are eight species of pangolins in the world, four of which are found in Asia and four in Africa.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species assessments in 2019, all eight pangolin species are at high, very high, or extremely high risk of extinction due to overexploitation for illegal, international trade in parts, including scales, use and trade at local and sub-national levels, and extensive habitat loss across their ranges.
The report noted that the primary destinations for illegally traded pangolin parts were China and Vietnam, while the primary nations of supposed origin for the illegal pangolin trade were Nigeria, Mozambique, Cameroon, and the Congo.
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