Pangolins: multimillion-dollar animal faces extinction as trade thrives
- High demand has made the pangolin the most commonly illegally traded mammal in the world, conservationists say
- With the trade across Asia murky yet lucrative, the animal faces extinction if the business remains unchecked
The world’s most trafficked mammal is a solitary anteater resembling an artichoke: the pangolin. Prized for its scales, particularly for use in traditional Chinese medicine, this quiet animal is at the centre of a sophisticated, multimillion-dollar supply chain across Africa and Asia, run by networks of criminal syndicates.
“Roughly 50 tonnes of illegal African pangolin scales have been seized globally in the last four months,” says Peter Knights, the chief executive of WildAid. “In shipments that contain both pangolins and ivory, pangolin scales have now surpassed the volume of ivory.”
High demand has made the pangolin the most illegally traded mammal in the world, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). All eight subspecies of the shy animal are threatened with extinction; the IUCN says in the 10 years following 2004, more than a million pangolins were killed. And when pangolins disappear, so does the ecological balance in their natural habitats.
A global ban on the trade that came into effect in January 2017 did not turn things around. Record numbers of pangolins have been seized this year. The Environmental Investigation Agency estimates law enforcement agencies have confiscated around 110,000 pangolins this year – a 54.5 per cent increase on last year.
Without intervention, the pangolin will be driven to extinction. Unfortunately, an undercover investigation into the illegal trade routes that stretch from Africa to China suggests the trade is as entrenched as ever.