Pangolins

[GeneChing]

Hopefully by now you've seen our WildAid Tiger Champion division, for our upcoming Tiger Claw's KungFuMagazine.com Championships II. I hope you can lend your support to our efforts.

Meanwhile, here's to the ongoing efforts of Operation Tram and CITES.

Smuggled wildlife: Traditional healers busted
March 05 2010 at 04:35PM
by Dave Clark

Police in 18 countries carried out a month-long coordinated mission against smuggled plant and animal parts used in various traditional forms of medicine, Interpol and national officers said Friday.

During the sweep, illegal products with a retail value of 10-million euros (about R102.2-million) were seized, the international law enforcement agency said.

"National wildlife enforcement authorities, police, customs and specialised units from 18 countries across all five continents worked together as part of Operation Tram which ran from 1 to 28 February," Interpol said.

British police targeted a business selling medicine from the Chinese tradition, but an Interpol spokeswoman told AFP the global operation was against all use of endangered species in cures from various cultures.

For centuries, traditional Chinese healers have used tiger bone to treat arthritis, rhinoceros horn for fevers and convulsions and bear bile to treat various infections, thus encouraging poachers to hunt rare animals.

In Rome, Italian forest rangers said they had seized 30 000 products containing wildlife worth about one million euros after checking more than 3 000 individuals, planes, baggage, and container ships.

Arrest warrants were issued against 40 individuals or companies.

"We noticed there is great deal of illegal traffic in Italy," the director of Interpol operations in Italy Colonel Giuseppe Verrocchi told AFP, adding that parts of tiger, bear and pangolin - an ant-eating mammal - and rare plants were seized.

"The products were imported directly from India, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam through the ports of Mestre, Trieste and Naples and Milan airport," an Italian statement said.

In London, the Metropolitan Police said officers had raided a Chinese traditional medicine business and found what seem to be plant species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

"Most traditional Chinese medicines are perfectly legal. However, a small number of people continue to trade in illegal products containing endangered species," said Sergeant Ian Knox from the force's wildlife crime unit.

"This trade threatens some of the world's most iconic species, and it will continue as long as the demand exists," he added.

A director of the company that owns the raided properties will be questioned once the plants have been analysed, Scotland Yard said.

The British police have been working against the use of illegal animal and plant products in traditional Chinese medicine since 1995 under its Operation Charm, and joined Interpol's Operation Tram last month.

Police in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Georgia, India, Italy, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Turkey and Zimbabwe also took part in the Tram operation.

"The important cultural, historical and religious values of traditional medicines is recognised by the law enforcement community," said senior British officer Chief Constable Richard Crompton, according to the statement.

"However, the increased use of endangered species in medicines can no longer be tolerated as it places extreme pressure on their very survival," he warned.

According to Interpol, Operation Tram "revealed a large amount of medicines either containing or marketing the use of illegal ingredients such as tiger, bear and rhinoceros." - Sapa-AFP

WWF hails Interpol efforts to curb illegal wildlife trade
Posted on 05 March 2010

Demand for tiger body parts used in traditional Chinese medicine and habitat fragmentation from unsustainable regional infrastructure development have driven the decline of the region’s Indochinese tiger population.
Related links

WWF hails the efforts of a recent worldwide Interpol operation to curb the illegal trade in traditional medicines containing endangered animal and plant species.

'Given that this crosses many borders, co-ordinating effective efforts to tackle the illegal trade in wildlife is not easy,' said WWF-UK's wildilfe trade advisor, Heather Sohl. "It's great to see 18 countries all working simultaneously to investigate and curtail the trade in traditional medicines containing threatened species. This can be a blueprint for future action on other areas of illicit wildlife trade too.'

The bust comes as WWF is preparing to call on countries which are members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to improve law enforcement, using intelligence-led, coordinated and cross-border approaches, to stop the illegal wildlife trade, when they meet in Doha, Qatar from 13 to 25 March.

'Such measures will help protect some of our most valued and yet threatened species such as tigers, rhino and elephants,' Sohl said.

Interpol conducted a month-long investigation into the illegal trade in traditional medicines containing protected wildlife products across 18 countries, according to its website. The investigationresulted in a series of arrests worldwide and the seizure of thousands of illegal medicines worth more than EUR 10 million.

For more details about the operation, which were released today, see http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/...2010/PR014.asp

[GeneChing]

457 dead pangolins seized in Guangdong, 4 suspects arrested



Not again! Guangdong police received a report this week about 457 dead pangolins, or scaly anteaters, that were found in Shijing Town. A total of four large fridges full of pangolin bodies were seized and four suspects were arrested, according to Tencent News.



All the dead bodies were placed in a morbid spread on the ground of a room, with the largest weighing more than 20 pounds. We hope one of these fellows wasn't among them.



A pangolin is a rare, scale-covered mammal whose armor is believed to cure cancer and asthma, as well as other ailments, in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

A sergeant involved in the operation revealed that they were tipped off by other citizens.

[Images via Tencent News]

By Christy Lau

There was a great article in NG on pangolins recently. See The Luckiest Pangolin Alive: THE STORY OF A LITTLE PANGOLIN WHO’S MAKING A BIG DIFFERENCE by SIMON ESPLEY, 5 September, 2014

[GeneChing]

Thousands of smuggled pangolins confiscated in smuggling bust


Guangdong authorities confiscate thousands of smuggled pangolins PHOTO/ Chinanews.com

November 3, 2015

Authorities in China’s Guangdong Province have busted a smuggling ring and confiscated 2,674 pangolins, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

Photos taken on September 14, show dozens of pangolins without their scales, lying on the floor inside a fishing vessel. The police were on an anti-smuggling boat patrol on the Pearl River near Yamen, when suddenly they spotted the suspicious vessel.

414 boxes of frozen pangolins were discovered on it.



This is China’s biggest trafficking case involving the species in recent years.

The authorities arrested two suspects on the boat. According to Xinhua, the two received the shipment of smuggled pangolins in international waters, and were promised 10,000 yuan ($1,580) reward each, if they managed to deliver the pangolins to the predetermined destination.

Pangolins are listed as second-class state protected species in China. But despite being officially recognized as endangered, the species is subject to smuggling, as their meat is considered a delicacy and their scales are believed to have medicinal qualities.


PHOTO/ Chinanews.com

Story from Xinhua and CCTV.

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2,674 pangolins. That's a lot of pangolins.

[herb ox]

This species known as the Pangolin or Scaly Anteater is often overlooked in the discussions of endangered species which usually focuses on elephants, rhinos and tigers and sharks.... but this humble animal is easy prey for poachers, and their scales, known as Chuan Shan Jia, are prized for their blood-invigorating properties, treating diseases of the skin like boils and carbuncles, promoting lactation and regulating the menses. Chuan Shan Jia is salty in taste and cool in temperature, going to the Liver and Stomach. There are plenty of plant based herbs that can treat these conditions without endangering this species! However, the trade is surreptitious, and awhile back, I was contacted by someone on Faceb00k trying to sell me some. She stated emphatically that she had a "special permit" for "farmed pangolin scales" - BS!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/26549963

13 March 2014 Last updated at 07:20
'Shocking' scale of pangolin smuggling revealed
By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature

Pangolin
Attachment 9784

Official records show that pangolins are being illegally traded on a "shocking" scale, according to a report.

The globally threatened animals are sought for their scales which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Annual seizures have been estimated at roughly 10,000 animals but experts warn the illegal trade is far greater

Chinese enforcement officials worked with researchers from the UK to assess the extent of the problem.

Attachment 9785
Pangolins


Zhao-Min Zhou, from the Public Security Bureau for Forests in China's Yunnan province, worked with researchers from the University of Oxford to analyse official records of pangolins seized from smugglers.

The findings are published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

"The numbers of pangolins traded are shocking, and all the more so considering the pharmaceutical pointlessness of the trade. This trade is intolerably wasteful," said Prof Macdonald, director of the University of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), and a co-author of the paper.

He praised the leadership of Mr Zhou in the study, which gives conservationists the first glimpse of official records of seizures.

The research team uncovered records that 2.59 tonnes of scales, representing approximately 4,870 pangolins, along with 259 intact pangolins (220 living; 39 dead) have been seized since 2010, resulting in 43 enforcement cases.

There are eight species of pangolin, four of which are found in Asia and four of which live in Africa.

Chinese and Sunda pangolins are listed as Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Indian and Philippine pangolins are considered Near Threatened, as are Africa's giant and white-bellied species.

The animals roll into a ball for protection but this only makes it easier for poachers to collect and transport them unnoticed.
Surveying the bodies of trafficked pangolins Mr Zhou examines the bodies of seized pangolins

In traditional Chinese medicine, roasted pangolin scales are thought to detoxify and drain pus, relieve palsy, and stimulate lactation.

Rapid economic growth in Asia has resulted in soaring demand in recent years.

Pangolins by post

In addition to smuggling whole animals, traffickers use the postal system to transport their contraband.

In the report, Prof Macdonald and colleagues highlight that last November, Beijing customs officials intercepted five parcels of pangolin scales weighing 70kg each.

They subsequently discovered a further tonne of scales had been shipped in this way since April, the equivalent of 1,660 individual animals.

Prolific smugglers have received prison sentences from 11 years to life but with demand out-stripping supply, the trade is only becoming more lucrative.

According to the report, pangolin scales are currently worth £360 ($600) per kilo, twice the amount they traded for in 2008.

Attachment 9786
Mr Zhou examines the bodies of seized pangolins

Pangolins only give birth to one offspring per year and conservationists warn that current declines are unsustainable.

Richard Thomas, from the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, described the animals as "overlooked" in comparison with the more "charismatic" targets of smugglers.

"Poor old pangolins are a bit of a forgotten species. There's been a lot of attention to the big iconic animals: elephants, rhinos, tigers but not much attention to pangolins."

He explained that Asian species of pangolin are protected under CITES legislation and have a "zero quota", meaning their removal from the wild for international trade is illegal.

TRAFFIC staff in Asia are helping to train customs and postal workers to help them detect smuggling attempts and raise awareness of the animals' plight.

"We've uncovered a disastrous situation and currently all the omens for the pangolin are bad but hopefully by drawing attention to this useless trade, international opinion may contribute to changing the situation of the pangolin," said Prof Macdonald.

[GeneChing]

A ranger, poacher and investigator explain pangolin trade


In this Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 photo, park ranger Denis Odong stands in an open area in Kidepo Valley National Park in northern Uganda. Although a global wildlife summit banned all trade of pangolins, doubts remain whether that will stop their illegal traffic in Africa fueled by growing demand from Asian consumers, particularly in China. (Helene Franchineau/Associated Press)

By Helene Franchineau | AP October 5 at 11:12 AM
KAMPALA, Uganda — Commercial trade in the pangolin, a scaly anteater with a distinctive coat of hard shells, is now forbidden following decisions made last week at a conservation meeting in Johannesburg.

The pangolin is the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal, with rampant poaching driven by demand for its meat, considered a delicacy in Vietnam and some parts of China, and its scales, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

The Associated Press spoke to a former pangolin poacher, a park ranger trying to curb poaching, and an undercover investigator about the trade.

___

THE FORMER POACHER

Michael Ojara, a 20-year-old farmer, said police arrested him in April after he caught a pangolin near his village in northwestern Uganda and tried to sell it. Ojara, whose village of Lagaji is located near Murchison Falls National Park, said he was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

“I don’t want to engage in poaching anymore, because I feel that if I do again, I will get arrested,” Ojara said in an interview late last month. Ojara said he had also killed an elephant a few years ago that wandered into his village from Murchison Falls because it was ruining his crops.

___

THE RANGER

Denis Odong, 30, is a Ugandan ranger who said he has only spotted a pangolin once in his eight years on the job. Odong, who works at the Kidepo Valley National Park, bordering South Sudan, said local villagers need to be provided with incentives to preserve wildlife.

But buyers of pangolin scales, which are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, play a greater role, he added. “Even the Chinese themselves, they know that poaching the pangolins will endanger the species,” Odong said.

___

THE UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATOR

Rebecca T. works as an undercover investigator into the trade of pangolins for the Natural Resource Conservation Network, a Ugandan nonprofit group. The 27-year-old agreed to an interview on condition of partial anonymity because revealing her identity could undermine her investigations.

Posing as a potential buyer, Rebecca connects with traffickers and travels across Uganda to meet them, see the products — usually live pangolins or scales — and negotiate prices. Once a deal and meeting has been set up, the group works with police to mount an operation and arrest the traffickers.

“They have big people behind them, they are not alone,” the investigator says of the traffickers. “They use expensive dogs, sometimes guns, and if you trace these guns you find that they come from the authorities.”

___

The International Women’s Media Foundation supported Franchineau in her reporting in Uganda as part of its Africa Great Lakes Initiative.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

TCM just likes pangolins because their weird looking.

[GeneChing]

Approximately 5,000 to 7,500 pangolins. ******.

China Announces Its Largest-Ever Seizure Of Trafficked Pangolin Scales
December 28, 20168:06 AM ET
CAMILA DOMONOSKE


An undated photo, released Wednesday, shows Shanghai customs officers checking pangolin scales at a port in Shanghai. Chinese customs seized over three tonnes of pangolin scales, state media said, in the country's biggest-ever smuggling case involving the animal parts.
STR/AFP/Getty Images

Chinese officials have seized 3.1 tonnes (more than 3.4 tons) of illegally trafficked pangolin scales from a port in Shanghai, according to state media.

It's the largest such seizure China has ever made, Xinhua News Agency reports.

Pangolins are the world's most widely trafficked mammals — their meat is a delicacy and their scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

All eight species of pangolin are facing extinction.

"The pangolin is about the size of a raccoon and looks like an artichoke with legs," NPR's Jackie Northam wrote last year. "Its head and body are covered with an armor of t***** scales, giving it the appearance of a reptile. When a pangolin is scared, it curls up into a tight ball."

This fall, commercial trade of the pangolin was "officially banned by the international body responsible for regulating the international trade of endangered species," as NPR's Rebecca Hersher reported.

Pangolins are now covered by "the strictest protections available under international law," she writes.


A game reserve guide in Zimbabwe holds a female pangolin at Wild Is Life animal sanctuary outside Harare on Sept. 22. Pangolins are the world's most heavily trafficked mammal; demand for pangolin meat and body parts is driving the secretive scaly ant-eating mammals to near extinction.
Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images

Rebecca continued:

"In a statement following news of the international commercial ban, Elly Pepper, the deputy director of the Natural Resource Defense Council's wildlife trade initiative, wrote that the trade ban would 'give the world's most-trafficked mammal a fighting chance at survival.' "

The pangolin scales seized in Shanghai were mixed in with wood products shipped from Nigeria, Phys.org reports, citing state broadcaster CCTV.

The illicit animal parts were discovered on Dec. 10, the South China Morning Post reports, and authorities accuse the suspects of smuggling pangolin scales from Africa to China since 2015.

Approximately 5,000 to 7,500 pangolins must have been killed to produce the more than 3 tons of pangolin scales, Xinhua reports.

Based on reported black-market prices for the scales, the seized scales would have been worth more than $2 million, Phys.org says.

"The scales are nothing more than keratin, the same substance that makes up fingernails," the science news service writes. "Yet it has been falsely touted as a cure for multiple ailments, including cancer, among some practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine."

[GeneChing]

It's AngelAbaby, not Angelbaby (as an editor, I feel the pain of a misspelled headline, and maybe just a shade of schadenfreude )

Good ol' WildAid. This is why we support them.

Angelbaby teams up with WildAid and Wunderman Shanghai to save Endangered Pangolins
It is estimated that over 1 million pangolins have been killed and illegally trafficked in the last decade to supply rising demand for their meat and scales in China and east Asia.

By Staff - Jan 12, 2017



WildAid, an environmental organization that focuses on reducing the demand for wildlife products, together with Wunderman Shanghai have just launched a China-based integrated activation campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the plight of pangolins, the world’s most trafficked and least understood wild mammal.

It is estimated that over 1 million pangolins have been killed and illegally trafficked in the last decade to supply rising demand for their meat and scales in China and east Asia.
WildAid has enlisted celebrity spokesperson, Angelababy, to serve as the organization’s ambassador and have recently launched a campaign with her to promote awareness of the plight of these endangered pangolins.


The might pangolin

This phase of the campaign, created by Wunderman Shanghai, includes metro and airport advertising in major Chinese cities and an interactive WeChat platform that encourages conservation awareness of these gentle creatures through an interactive game.

The interactive game involves players going on a search for pangolins in a forest. Once they are able to spot and catch a pangolin, they are given a choice of what to do with their catch: sell, cook or bring home. All responses receive a personal reply from Angelababy encouraging them to stop the killing of these defenseless creatures, delivering the message of “when the buying stops, the killing can too.” Users are then prompted to spread the word of protecting pangolins on social media.



“We found that even with a superstar power like Angelababy, Chinese consumers are more likely to want a digital interactive platform that engages them in the message,” said Bryce Whitwam, CEO of Wunderman China.

Pangolins, the only known mammal with scales and are found in China as well as southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. These shy and harmless nocturnal mammals are the most heavily trafficked and poached for their meat and scales, believed in traditional Chinese medicine to cure rheumatism, asthma and other diseases.


Chinese-born Hong Kong model, actress, and singer, Yang Ying, better known as Angelababy.

All 8 global pangolin species were recently uplisted at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to appendix 1 status, meaning international trade in pangolins will be banned. But more awareness is still needed to further reduce demand for their products.

WildAid’s acting chief representative in China Steve Blake says “this partnership between WildAid and Wunderman gives us an exciting new way to deliver the message of protecting pangolins. Campaigns like these have already proven to decrease demand for wildlife products, and we believe it is only a matter of time before we can start seeing this for pangolins.”

[GeneChing]

THAILAND SEIZES RECORD HAUL OF PANGOLIN SCALES INTENDED FOR TRAFFICKING
BY JACK MOORE ON 2/2/17 AT 1:12 PM

THAILAND
Thai authorities revealed almost 3 tonnes of pangolin scales Thursday, in what they said was a record haul of the trafficked animal part.

The scales, made out of keratin, the same protein that fingernails consist of, were shipped from the Congo, through Turkey, before authorities seized two air cargo deliveries at Bangkok’s Suvarmabhumi Airport.

The hauls, worth more than $800,000, were intended to reach Laos. Poachers would have killed some 6,000 pangolins to create that amount of scales, according to customs chief Kulit Sombatsiri, Reuters reported.


A vet from Save Vietnam Wildlife (SVW), holds an injured pangolin, as part of its Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program in Cuc Phuong National Park in the northern province of Ninh Binh, October 22, 2016. Thai authorities seized a record 3 tonne haul of pangolin scales, they said Thursday.
HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/GETTY

“This is the biggest lot (of pangolin scales) that we have seized,” Police Major General Worapong Thongpaiboon, acting commander of Thailand’s Natural Resources and Environment Crime Division, told AFP news agency. Thai police showed the haul, packed into white bags, to journalists at Bangkok airport.

Pangolins, shy in their nature, are the world’s most-trafficked mammal. Demand for their scales has risen because of the belief in some Asian countries, Vietnam and China for example, that they have medicinal benefits.

They are viewed as a delicacy in the region and pangolin fetus soup is believed to improve male fertility. As with other exotic animal parts, such as elephant tusks, they are mostly garnered in Africa and sold in Asia.

The harmless animals have sticky tongues that allow them to eat ants and termites. The animal recedes into a ball when it feels threatened.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the global body that sets wildlife trade legislation, banned the global trade of eight species of pangolins in January. The animal is critically endangered, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Why is it that any creature that is unusual and unique is believed to help with male virility?

[GeneChing]

I'm going to copy out all the pangolin items to their own indie thread off the Endangered Species in TCM thread.

‘In love with the taste of wildlife’ – probe launched after officials hold 'endangered pangolin feast' in China


Pangolin's carry their offsprings on their tails CREDIT: AP

Neil Connor, beijing
7 FEBRUARY 2017 • 12:21PM

China has ordered an investigation after online images showed local officials holding a lavish banquet of meat of endangered pangolin, the most trafficked animal on earth.

The meat of the elusive creature - which is often likened to a tiny dinosaur – is seen as a delicacy by some in China, and feasts are considered an extravagant show of hospitality.

But Beijing banned the trade in pangolins more than ten years ago, amid fears that the insect-eating animal was being hunted to extinction.

The alleged feast in the southern province of Guangxi became a hot topic on the Chinese Internet this week after an online post went viral from a businessman who was present.

“This is the first time I have eaten it (pangolin), and it tasted great,” said the comment, which was posted alongside images of cooked meat and bones.


'Pangolin meat' CREDIT: WEIBO/GLOBAL TIMES

“I have fell deeply in love with the taste of wildlife,” added the post, which was reputedly made by a businessman from Hong Kong who was describing a trade trip to Guangxi.

Pangolin smugglers in China can be served with prison sentences of ten years.

But there is huge demand for the nocturnal creature as its scales are highly-prized in Chinese traditional medicine as an ingredient which some believe can improve blood circulation.

Scales can sell for up to £2,000 on the black market, while a pangolin dish at Chinese restaurants would be expected to cost hundreds of pounds.



Thai customs officials arrange African pangolin scales at the Customs Department headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, after they seized their biggest haul ever of African pangolin scales CREDIT: SAKCHAI LALIT/AP PHOTO

Animal protection campaigners believe up to 90,000 dead and alive pangolins have been seized by customs officials over the last ten years in China and Hong Kong.

Heather Sohl, chief adviser of wildlife, at WWF-UK, said: “Pangolins are the most trafficked mammal in the world and this is having a devastating impact on populations across Africa and Asia.”

The pangolin banquet, which was reported to have taken place in July 2015, had “violated Chinese law”, said Keith Guo, regional spokesman for Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

“In China, some people still believe the meat of wildlife can improve health, and this has no scientific basis,” he added.


A Malayan pangolin is seen out of its cage after being confiscated by the Department of Wildlife and Natural Parks in Kuala Lumpur CREDIT: JIMIN LAI/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Comments on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, expressed outrage towards officials, who are often critisised for their extravagant lifestyles.

Beijing ordered provincial authorities to investigate the alleged feast, news site thepaper.cn said. Local authorities did not respond to a request from The Telegraph for comment

“So officials entertain themselves by eating endangered wildlife,” said one post. “No wonder I am concerned about the future of the country.”

Additional reporting by Christine Wei