Posted on 14 July 2009
- Illegal trade in Asian pangolin meat and
scales has caused the scaly anteaters to
disappear from large swathes of
Cambodia, Viet Nam and Lao PDR.
Proceedings of the workshop
on trade and conservation of pangolins native
to South and Southeast Asia Singapore -
Rising demand for pangolins, mostly from
mainland China, compounded by lax laws is
wiping out the unique toothless anteaters
from their native habitats in Southeast
Asia, according to a group of leading pangolin
experts.
Illegal trade in Asian
pangolin meat and scales has caused the
scaly anteaters to disappear from large
swathes of Cambodia, Viet Nam and Lao PDR,
concluded a panel of experts whose findings
were announced today by the wildlife trade
monitoring network, TRAFFIC.
China has a long history
of consuming pangolin as meat and in traditional
medicine, the report states. Due to continual
demand and the decreasing Chinese wild population,
in the past few years pangolin smuggling
from Southeast Asia has resulted in great
declines in these producing countries wild
populations, as well.
Although the animals
are protected under national legislation
in all Asian range states, and have been
prohibited from international trade through
the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES) since 2002, this legislation is
having little impact on the illicit trade.
Pangolins are the most
frequently encountered mammals seized from
illegal traders in Asia, and are highly
unusual in not possessing teeth.
Pangolins, like the
laws designed to protect them, lack bite,
commented Chris R. Shepherd, Acting Director
for TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.
Pangolin populations
clearly cannot stand the incessant poaching
pressure, which can only be stopped by decisive
government-backed enforcement action in
the region.
According to pangolin
hunters and traders, there are so few pangolins
left in forests throughout Cambodia, Viet
Nam and Lao PDR, they are now sourcing animals
from their last remaining strongholds in
Southeast Asia and beyond.
Recent large seizures
back up these reports. They include 24 tonnes
of frozen pangolins from Sumatra, Indonesia,
seized in Viet Nam, and 14 tonnes of frozen
animals seized in Sumatra in 2008. There
have also been recent instances of African
pangolins seized in Asia.
Pangolins save us millions
of dollars a year in pest destruction, says
Dr Simon Stuart, Chair of the IUCN Species
Survival Commission. These shy creatures
provide a vital service and we cannot afford
to overlook their ecological role as natural
controllers of termites and ants.
The key to tackling
the pangolin crisis is better enforcement
of existing national and international laws
designed to protect pangolins, better monitoring
of the illegal trade, and basic research
to find where viable pangolin populations
still exist and whether ravaged populations
can recover given adequate protection, according
to the report.
The experts on pangolins
included scientific researchers, government
law enforcement officers from most Asian
pangolin range States, CITES Management
and Scientific Authorities and animal rescue
centres, who convened at a workshop hosted
by Wildlife Reserves Singapore at the Singapore
National Zoo.
TRAFFIC's work on pangolins
was supported by National Geographic and
Sea World Bucsh Gardens.
