East Africa on the spot for trafficking in endangered pangolins
Wednesday January 24 2018
Zimbabwe game reserve guide holds "Marimba", a female pangolin at Wild Is Life animal sanctuary in Harare. Asia has been identified as the likely destination for endangered animals. AFP PHOTO | JEKESAI NJIKIZANA
Conservation experts are calling for investigations to stem the smuggling of pangolins across borders by criminal networks.
Pangolins are scaly-skinned mammals sometimes mistaken for reptiles. Thousands are illegally taken from the wild to feed demand in China where their meat is considered a delicacy while their scales are used as traditional medicine.
University of Adelaide and Cambridge-based Traffic International mentioned Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Guinea, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire as pangolin trafficking hubs.
Pest control
Pangolins play an important role in pest control because of their insatiable appetite for insects. It is estimated one adult pangolin can consume more than 70 million insects annually.
Pangolins live predominantly on diet of ants and termites supplemented with other invertebrates including bee larvae, flies, worms, earthworms, and crickets.
Trade in pangolins or their body parts is their prohibited by Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Poaching and habitat loss have made the creatures endangered.
Illegal trafficking
Insatiable demand has led to illegal trafficking of pangolins from African and Asian countries. Ailments like asthma, rheumatism and arthritis are treated using scales fetching over $3,000 per kilogramme in black market.
As populations of Asian pangolins decline, demand is shifting to Africa where local cultural use poses some threats as well. Pangolins are hunted in African continent for bushmeat.
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Traffic said profiling through intelligence-led investigations is a must for source, transit and end-use destinations as new routes make trafficking highly mobile.
“Transnational network of illegal pangolin trafficking is highly mobile with new trade routes emerging every year. Enforcement approaches will need to be dynamic,” said the two networks that monitor wild plants and animals.