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Seizure of 14 Tons of Pangolin Scales in Singapore Sets a Dismal Record


Sacks containing pangolin scales that were seized last week in Singapore. Credit National Parks Board Singapore, via Reuters
By Tiffany May
April 8, 2019

HONG KONG — Singapore has discovered more than 14 tons of pangolin scales in what conservation specialists called the largest such seizure of a single shipment worldwide, highlighting the stubbornness of the illegal trade of the scaly anteater.

Roughly 36,000 pangolins were believed to have been killed for the shipment, according to Paul Thomson, an official with the Pangolin Specialist Group, an organization belonging to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The group called it the biggest seizure of pangolin scales on record.

“The news of this record-shattering seizure is deeply alarming and underscores the fact that pangolins are facing a crisis,” Mr. Thomson said of the seizure, which took place last Wednesday. “If we don’t stop the illegal wildlife trade, pangolins face the risk of going extinct.”

Pangolins are believed to be the most frequently illegally trafficked mammal in the world, with an estimated 300 of them poached every day on average. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has declared all eight species as “threatened with extinction” since 2014, while two species are critically endangered.

Specialists say that the pangolin’s defense against predators, which is to curl itself into a ball, has made it an easy target for hunters.

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Singaporean customs officials and the country’s national parks board said in a statement that the scales, which had been shipped from Nigeria, were headed to Vietnam, home to the second-most lucrative black market for pangolin scales, after China.

In Vietnam, many see pangolin meat as a luxury that conveys social status and health benefits, according to a survey conducted by WildAid in 2015.

In China, about 70 percent of people surveyed by WildAid believed that the pangolin could cure ailments ranging from rheumatism to skin diseases; consumers often drink it in wine or in powder form as part of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions.


A pangolin rescued from poachers in South Africa. Pangolins are believed to be the most frequently illegally trafficked mammals in the world, with an estimated 300 of them poached every day on average.
Credit
Denis Farrell/Associated Press

International laws forbid trafficking of all pangolin species, and techniques such as fingerprint forensics seek to deter poachers, but recent seizures have shown that the pangolin is still heavily trafficked around the world.

In February, 33 tons of pangolin meat were seized in two processing facilities in Malaysia, according to Traffic, a wildlife conservation group. Earlier that month, the Hong Kong authorities intercepted a nine-ton shipment of pangolin scales and a thousand elephant tusks.

When Singaporean officials intercepted the pangolin scale shipment last Wednesday, they also found nearly 400 pounds of carved ivory, officials said.

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Tiger Claw Elite Champions 2019
GRAND CHAMPIONS

WILDAID TIGER CLAW CHAMPIONS
WILDAID TIGER CLAW CHAMPION: Xia, Zhiyang – Thunder Kung Fu Academy
TEEN TIGER: Liu, Judy – Omei Academy
TIGER CUB: TIE Dong, Lucas – Elite Kung Fu & Le, Kevin – Honor Kung Fu

Congrats to Xia, Judy, Lucas & Kevin. Pix to come.

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Lucas Dong and his family dropped by Tiger Claw just now. More on that to come...

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Shark Fin is Always the “Worst Choice”
July 15, 2019



In honor of Shark Awareness Day, international conservation organization WildAid and Plan B Media PCL, one of Thailand’s leading outdoor media service providers, urge the public to stop serving and consuming shark fin. The advertisements, placed on Plan B’s media platforms in prominent locations around Bangkok, feature wedding couples dressed in controversial outfits suggesting that their fashion statement was not the “worst choice” they made but rather their decision to include shark fin on the menu.

The campaign builds on WildAid’s “Celebrate with #NoSharkFin” initiative calling on the public to forgo shark fin at weddings and celebratory events. According to WildAid’s survey findings, 57% urban Thais have eaten shark fin and, even more alarmingly, 61% plan to consume it again in the future. Survey respondents said they consumed shark fin most often at weddings (72%), family meals at restaurants (61%) and business meetings (47%).

The shark fin trade is depleting shark populations, putting many species at risk of extinction, while also causing environmental degradation and fisheries collapse. An estimated 100 million sharks are killed every year and fins from up to 73 million end up in shark fin soup. Thailand is home to an active domestic market for shark fins, with many consumers unaware of the cruel practice of “finning” behind each bowl of shark fin soup: a shark’s fins are often cut off at sea and the shark is thrown back into the water to suffer and die slowly.

“We are proud to support WildAid in its fight to help protect sharks,” said Palin Lojanagosin, Chief Executive Officer, Plan B Media PCL. “Plan B media is deeply concerned by the depletion of shark populations worldwide and the widespread consumption of shark fin in Thailand. This partnership aligns with our organization’s values and together with the strength of our out-of-home media platforms and hard-hitting campaign messages from WildAid, we are confident that our efforts can have an impact in ending consumer consumption behaviors that threaten the health of our oceans.”

Plan B Media PCL has consistently showcased its commitment to social responsibility by sharing their media platforms with non-profit organizations to deliver messages concerning societal and environmental issues. This partnership serves to help improve the ocean’s ecosystem by ending threats sharks face from consumption of their fins.

“WildAid’s partnership with Plan B is instrumental in bringing this urgent crisis to light and helping to save sharks by promoting the message of #NoSharkFin,” said John Baker, Chief Program Officer at WildAid. “Thanks to their support, we can push for a newly accepted standard where sharks are permanently off the menu.”

The creative concept for the “Worst Choice” advertisement series was developed pro bono for WildAid by BBDO Bangkok, Thailand’s leading creative and advertising agency. Apart from outdoor media, these advertisements will also be widely distributed on social media platforms and other online platforms.

Shark Awareness Day is observed annually on July 14.



###
About WildAid
WildAid is a non-profit organization with a mission to end the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetimes. While most wildlife conservation groups focus on protecting animals from poaching, WildAid primarily works to reduce global consumption of wildlife products such as elephant ivory, rhino horn and shark fin soup. With an unrivaled portfolio of celebrity ambassadors and a global network of media partners, WildAid leverages more than $230 million in annual pro-bono media support with a simple message: When the Buying Stops, the Killing Can Too.

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AUGUST 13, 2019


In order to revive the declining pangolin population because of habitat loss and rampant poaching, China is planning to upgrade the animal’s protection status. Handout.

China moves to curb pangolin trade, as opinion shifts
Public backs the shift away from using animal’s scales in traditional Chinese medicine, survey finds
By DM CHAN

The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) are providing a new level of protection to the world’s most trafficked mammal — pangolins.

While the Chinese mainland intends to enhance the protection status of the animal, Hong Kong residents are demanding an end to the use of pangolin scales in traditional medicines, CGTN.com reported.

More than two-thirds of HKSAR residents showed strong inclination to phase out the use of pangolin scales in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), according to a survey by Hong Kong University and WildAid released at the 18th Consortium for Globalization of Chinese Medicine Meeting in Shanghai.

“There are sustainable herbal alternatives in traditional medicine and the public seems supportive in shifting away from the use of scales in TCM,” said Peter Knights, CEO of WildAid.

A whopping 96% of respondents agreed that “endangered animal species should be protected.” Around 85% agreed that “Chinese medicine should phase out the use of endangered wildlife species whilst promoting sustainable and herbal alternatives.”

“As a member of the Traditional Chinese Medicine community, I support removing endangered wildlife from medicine,” said Professor Lao Lixing, Director of the School of Chinese Medicine at Hong Kong University who prepared the survey’s result, the report said.

Despite the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a global wildlife trade regulator, banning the international trade of pangolin scales and meat, the illegal trade still flourishes.

Concerned over the uncontrolled poaching, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared all eight pangolin species as threatened by extinction.

In order to revive the declining pangolin population because of habitat loss and rampant poaching, China is planning to upgrade the animal’s protection status, Xinhua reported.

“It is hard to come across wild pangolins,” said Wu Zhimin, head of the wildlife conservation department of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration at a meeting in Changsha in central China.

In China, pangolins are protected under the class-two of state wildlife protection law that bans the animal’s hunting. The country also banned the import of pangolin and its products in 2018. According to Wu, plans are afoot to move the protection level of the animal to class-one, the report said.

Apart from national-level policies to protect pangolins, Chinese customs officials also started sharing intelligence inputs to intercept illegal wildlife consignments.

It's great to see that WildAid's efforts for Pangolins are paying off.

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Indian 'tiger poacher who ate sloth bear *****es' arrested
1 hour ago


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Bear gallbladders can fetch a high price in illegal international markets

Indian police have hailed the arrest of a notorious suspected poacher who they say killed sloth bears and ate their *****es as a "very important catch".

The man, known as Yarlen, had been on the run for years.

Authorities were first alerted when they found sloth bear carcasses without genitals in a national park.

The nomadic Pardhi-Behelia tribe he is part of believe the animal's ***** is an aphrodisiac, said Ritesh Sirothia of the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department.

But Yarlen, who was arrested on 19 October in the state of Gujarat, was also a major figure in the tiger poaching trade in central India, he said.

He was a suspect in several cases involving the poaching and trading of endangered wild animals, including tigers, in central and western India.

He is alleged to have used several different identities to evade capture.

Yarlen is yet to be charged and neither he nor a lawyer have commented on the allegations. He was produced in court on Wednesday and remanded in custody.

"We created a special cell to track him down and arrest him. It was our longest chase, it went on for six years," said Mr Sirothia, who heads the forest department's special task force.

Found in the southern parts of Madhya Pradesh, the Pardhi-Behelia tribe has traditionally lived in forests and depended on hunting for survival.


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Yarlen is alleged to have hunted sloth bears and tigers, among other endangered animals

Hunting of wild animals is illegal in India, including for tribal communities, though ritual forest hunting continues. The Indian government says it is working to provide alternative livelihoods to tribespeople but many continue to live on the fringes of society.

Yarlen was first arrested in 2013 after police found two sloth bear carcasses from the Kanha national park missing genitalia and gall bladders.

He spent a year in jail before being freed on bail and going on the run, police said. Bear bile, which is produced in the liver and stored in the gall bladder, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years and fetches a high price in the illegal international market.

Mr Sirothia said there were six cases registered against Yarlen in the states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh under Cites (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Three of the cases involve the poaching of tigers.

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Wildlife Consumption Linked to Deadly New Strain of Virus
January 24, 2020



With more than 800 people infected and 26 confirmed deaths, a new virus outbreak from China has put a spotlight on the consumption of wildlife. While the government has stepped up its efforts to limit such consumption in response, WildAid is working with our partners in China and Vietnam to implement effective and long-term solutions.

The new coronavirus (known as 2019-nCoV) was first reported in Wuhan City, China, on December 31, 2019, and has since been detected in travelers to other countries. The Huanan Seafood Market in the central city of Wuhan came under scrutiny after experts suggested the new type of virus came from wild animals kept in unhygienic conditions and illegally sold for consumption. A menu circulating online lists animals like live foxes, crocodiles, civets, snakes, rats, seafood and other wildlife for sale.

China’s Ministry of Natural Resources, along with numerous other ministries have urged people to immediately stop consuming wildlife and in a recent social media post, they repeated that “refusing to eat wildlife is also a way to protect ourselves.”

The Chinese authorities had been “remarkably open” amid an “enormously demanding” situation, said Prof Neil Ferguson, the director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College in London.

Chinese authorities have issued daily briefings, putting in place strict measures to control the disease, including closing wildlife markets and banning travel in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, as well as in 11 other nearby cities. China’s National Health Commission Vice-Minister Li Bin warned the flu-like virus can be transmitted from human to human and urged the public to minimize public gatherings. The timing of the outbreak is particularly worrisome as hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel for the Lunar New Year beginning on Saturday, January 25th.

“The openness and willingness by the authorities to quickly shut down the markets and call on the public to stop consuming illegal wildlife products has been very encouraging,” said WildAid China Representative Steve Blake. “Momentum to end this dangerous and often devastating consumption of wildlife has been building here for years, but this is the first time we’re seeing such a complete stance to end it from both the government and the public.”

The Chinese public has taken to social media to vent their frustrations, demanding stricter enforcement of wildlife markets and trade. A public service announcement with musician Jay Chou and WildAid, which warns the public about illegally consuming wildlife, has gone viral with over 14 million views in just a few days on Weibo.

“Some people think it’s clever to eat these cute animals, pangolins,” Chou says in the PSA. “In fact, it’s dangerous. There are serious risks of picking up parasites or catching diseases, and the scales for medicine? They’re keratin, just like your fingernails…and these animals are becoming endangered. Never eat pangolins or use their scales. When the buying stops, the killing can too.”

For 20 years, WildAid has been campaigning to end consumer demand for illegal wildlife products to save endangered species, which in turn can help protect public health.

Past epidemics like the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) have entered the human population from animals. China bans the trafficking of a number of wild species or requires special licenses, but many exotic species are still widely consumed illegally.

The coronavirus, which has no known vaccine, has also been reported in South Korea, Thailand, Japan and elsewhere outside China. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first U.S. case in which a man infected with the virus flew from Wuhan to Everett, Washington. Meanwhile, India, Nigeria, Japan and the United States have all implemented airport screening procedures. Symptoms of the virus include fever, cough or trouble breathing with serious cases leading to pneumonia, kidney failure and death.

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Is This a Watershed Moment for Pangolins?
February 14, 2020



Pangolins have had a rough start to 2020 – though truthfully it’s been a rough couple of decades. In just the first six weeks, Nigeria Customs seized 9.5 tonnes of pangolin scales, representing tens of thousands of animals, while scientists in China have suggested a link between pangolins and the novel coronavirus.

It was over three years ago that the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) voted to protect all eight species of pangolins from international trade. Yet the pangolin remains the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal. It is estimated that up to 200,000 are taken from the wild every year across Africa and Asia to meet demand for their scales and meat.

And now they may be linked to an epidemic that has commanded the attention and vigilance of the whole world. In preparing to celebrate World Pangolin Day on February 15th, it’s hard to overlook the glaring fact that the pangolin’s future is uncertain.

Are pangolins vectors of disease?

Research is still being conducted but even before the novel coronavirus made headlines, scientists thought pangolins could be a good candidate to be an intermediate host for a virus. This is in part due to the nature of the multinational illegal trade, the shear amount of pangolins being traded, the animal’s low threshold for stress, and possibly a weak immune response to fight off infections.



“Pangolins, as with other illegally-traded species, may become important reservoirs to possibly immunologically-naive populations of humans, livestock and other wildlife along the entire illicit trade supply chain,” says Sean Heighton, who is studying molecular traceability at the Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, Université de Toulouse III (IRD). “The same can be said if pangolins are to be captive bred for consumers. In order for these pangolin farms to be a success, they would need to have a large enough founder population (requiring the capture of wild pangolins likely from different regions and thus naive to each other’s pathogens as well as the environmental pathogens of the facilities they are placed in), place them in an unnatural setting (stressful conditions can result in reduced immune responses to infection), try to provide them with nutritional requirements that are extremely specialized (nutrition from ants and termites) and allow them to be in continuous contact with humans. The health implications, not only for humans but for the pangolin populations placed in these conditions, may be noteworthy.”

The idea is that when pangolins are captured and smuggled for thousands of miles, often without food or water, they’re more likely to become hosts for a pathogen to live and multiply. These animals, along with the many other species they are traded with, may become “disease reservoirs” that can serve as a source from which other individuals, including humans, can be infected. If left alone in the wild, the shy, docile pangolin is a harmless creature filling an important ecological niche, controlling pest populations by individually consuming some 70 million insects per year. In other words, pangolins are unlikely a threat to anyone unless they are captured, handled, traded and consumed by people.



Pangolin Demand in China and Vietnam

The use of pangolin scales in traditional medicine in both China and Vietnam is a major contributor to the pangolin’s endangered status. Despite all trade in pangolin meat and scales being banned internationally, Vietnam continues to be a major player in the trafficking chain. China still allows domestic sales of approved medicines containing pangolin scales despite a dwindling legal supply.



But recently, China has taken steps to address the use of pangolins in traditional medicine. Last August, the National Medical Insurance and Human Resource and Social Security Bureau announced the country’s national insurance will no longer cover medicines containing pangolin as well as other products derived from threatened and endangered species. Vietnam has a similar regulation in place. China’s Wildlife Conservation Department of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA) is also considering increasing the pangolin’s national protection status to Class I.

What’s Next?

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, more Chinese citizens are demanding sustained action against illegal wildlife trade and consumption. China has fast-tracked its legislation work related to wildlife, according to an ECNS media report. Later this year, the top legislature is expected to amend its law on the protection of wildlife as well as laws on animal epidemic prevention.

Wang Ruihe, an official with the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee said on Monday, the potential public health security risks caused by trading and eating wild animals have drawn worldwide concern, stressing the need to improve laws and regulations related to wildlife.

But legislation is only part of the solution, said Professors Jie Li and Jun Li of Guangzhou University in a recent article in The Lancet.

“The ultimate solution lies in changing people’s minds about what is delicious, trendy, prestigious, or healthy to eat,” they said. “We believe that through a change in the outdated and inappropriate tradition of consuming wild animals and their products, we can conserve the natural habitat of wild animals, and humans and other living creatures can coexist in harmony.”



What WildAid is Doing

As part of its behavior change campaign work in China and Vietnam, WildAid is working closely with these governments to reduce consumer demand for pangolins. With the help of legendary ambassadors like Jackie Chan and superstar Angelababy, our program aims to raise awareness of the pangolin poaching crisis and to reduce consumer demand. We are currently developing new activities to build on the current government resolve and pending new regulations. And working with our partners in media and the government, we will amplify messages to end the consumption of pangolin meat and scales, establishing this a societal norm.

A 2015 WildAid survey found that 70% of respondents in China believed pangolin scales had medicinal value. Eighteen months after launching our campaign, this figure had dropped 28.5% (in 2017, 50% believed in the medicinal value of scales), demonstrating the impact of our messaging on people’s perceptions of pangolins. Despite this progress, the number of respondents admitting to having purchased pangolin products continued to hover around 9% in 2017, indicating there is still demand for the products and much more work is needed.



Meanwhile in Africa, WildAid is working on a public awareness campaign that we hope will inspire a sense of national pride in pangolins and start a movement to end live wildlife markets. WildAid recently traveled to Nigeria, a major pangolin trafficking hub, with Benin-born actor Djimon Hounsou to investigate wildlife markets and rescue live pangolins.



“Africa needs to heed the lessons from China and close down these wildlife markets immediately,” said WildAid ambassador and Academy Award-nominee Hounsou. “As well as a massive risk to health, they endanger species and are inhumane.”

Despite all the doom and gloom news, we invite you to celebrate these magnificent creatures with us on World Pangolin Day.

Let’s make sure we harness the recent international attention for good, spotlighting all of the quirky, incredible (and harmless) features of these unique creatures who have existed on this planet for some 70 million years, while recognizing the urgency with which we must act to save them. Perhaps this is the watershed moment we needed to cement their future once and for all. #PangolinPower

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