Threats to Pangolins & Pangolin Conservation

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Flutterby
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Hundreds of frozen pangolins found on rogue fishing vessel

Post by Flutterby »

wildlifenews.co.uk
Posted by Kevin Heath posted on April 15th, 2013 at 7: 05 am and last updated on April 15th, 2013 at 9: 25 am

Philippines Coastguards have announced that hundreds of frozen pangolins have been found in the hold of a rogue Chinese fishing vessel that went aground in one of it’s marine nature reserves. The fishing vessel that was operating illegally in the marine reserve went aground on the Tubbataha reef, in Palawan island, western Philippines, last week.

The 12 crew members of the Ming Long Yu are already facing charges of illegally poaching fish and attempting to bribe government officials. The crew are expected to face new charges on the discovery of the pangolins, or scaly anteaters.

The discovery of the pangolins may explain away some of the mystery surrounding the vessel. While the boat looks like a fishing vessel when coastguards examined the boat after the grounding they discovered that the boat had no fishing gear or ice aboard. The lack of equipment led some officials to believe that the vessel was a spy boat sent as tensions over fishing rights in the region gets higher.

None of the crew members had passports or any identification cards which added to the mystery of why the boat was in a protected marine reserve.

However when the boat was searched the officials found 400 boxes of body parts in the hold. It is suspected that the pangolins may have come from the western Philippine island of Palawan which is the nearest land to where the fishing boat went aground.

The pangolins may have also originated from Malaysia as the captain of the vessel claimed that the boat was not fishing in the park but went aground as the boat sailed from Malaysia to China. If the pangolins turns out to be Malaysian pangolins then the numbers of dead pangolins would be a devastating loss to the IUCN listed red list species. Other crew members said they were heading back to China from Indonesia.

Pangolin meat is a popular delicacy in China and parts of the pangolin are also used in traditional Chinese medicines.

The Tubbataha reef marine reserve is a World Heritage Site and one of the most protected parks in the Philippines. Even before the discovery of the pangolins the crew were facing prison sentences of up to 12 years or $300,000 in fines.

The fishing boat is still currently grounded on the reef as officials await the arrival of a salvage tug.

The protected reef system in the Sulu Sea has suffered a number of accidents recently. The most high profile so far this year was the grounding of a United States minesweeper the USS Guardian. In order to minimise damage to the reef the minesweeper was partially dismantled prior to being dragged from the reef.


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Re: Hundreds of frozen pangolins found on rogue fishing vess

Post by Flutterby »

Pangolin meat is a popular delicacy in China and parts of the pangolin are also used in traditional Chinese medicines.
Why does that not surprise me?!! O/ O/ O/


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Re: Hundreds of frozen pangolins found on rogue fishing vess

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Sick O/ O/ O/ O/


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Threats to Pangolins

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World experts: all pangolin species at risk from illegal trade

Monday, July 15, 2013 at 17:15

Singapore, 15th July 2013—A recent gathering of global pangolin experts has concluded the scaly mammals are more threatened now than ever, with all eight species threatened by illegal trade for their meat and medicinal use of their scales.

Currently international trade in the four species of Asian pangolin is not permitted under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), while international trade in the four African species is only allowed provided the correct CITES permits accompany shipments—however, this is rarely the case.

The landmark meeting on the conservation of pangolins was organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature—Species Survival Commission (IUCN-SSC) Pangolin Specialist Group and Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

The conference noted that at least 218,100 pangolins had been seized between 2000 and 2012—a figure likely to represent only a fraction of those being illegally traded. Ninety per cent of these were seized from mainland China, Hong Kong, and four South-East Asian nations—Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam and Thailand. Live animals and meat represented some 60% of all pangolins seizures, while the rest included scales and whole carcasses.

It saw the gathering of Asian and African pangolin experts, who kick-started the process of re-assessing the status of the world’s eight pangolins species for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Red List is recognized as the most comprehensive and globally accepted evaluation of the conservation status of plant and animal species.

The first pangolin assessment was carried out in 2008 when only two of the eight pangolin species—the Sunda Pangolin Manis javanica and the Chinese Pangolin M. pentadactyla—were listed as Endangered. The latest information presented at the Conference suggests that populations of all eight pangolin species are in serious decline and an update of the Red List will reflect this.

Research also indicates that the main threats to pangolins have escalated over the years, with illegal trade contributing more significantly to the problem than habitat loss, in part driven by the rising prices paid for pangolins on the black market.

During the meeting, TRAFFIC highlighted the scale of the pangolin trafficking problem in China and Malaysia, the former a significant consumer country, the latter a source and transit point. TRAFFIC raised the need for stiffer penalties and more effective prosecution efforts to secure convictions.

“Enforcement efforts should not end at seizures—they are only the first of several steps needed to dismantle wildlife smuggling rings,” said Dr Chris R. Shepherd, Acting Director of TRAFFIC in South-East Asia.

“Agencies must be proactive, weeding out the ringleaders behind smuggling operations and putting them out of business.

“Investigators and prosecutors must also prepare thoroughly so that when cases are presented in court they are strong enough for the judge to make a ruling fitting the crime.”

Cases highlighted by TRAFFIC during the meeting included the sentencing of a Malaysian national to life imprisonment for trafficking 2,090 frozen pangolins and 1,800 kg of scales from Malaysia to Guangdong, China, in 2010. He was arrested in China and sentenced along with four others convicted in the same case who received between five and 10 years each in prison.

Comparatively, the highest sentence meted out thus far in Malaysia was in June 2013, against a group of six men who attempted to smuggle 150 pangolins across the country’s land border with Thailand. Their fines totalled RM330,000 (approximately USD103,000), and each man was sentenced to a year in jail. In a separate case in 2012 two businessmen were jailed just one day and fined RM100,000 (USD31,342) each for the illegal possession of 135 pangolins.

Experts agreed that a suite of actions was crucial to curbing this trade. The Conference proposed ramping up law enforcement efforts, improving habitat protection, reducing consumer demand, and improving community stewardship in and around pangolin habitats as key components in any plan to tackle the poaching and trade of pangolins.


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Re: All Pangolin Species at Risk from Illegal Trade

Post by Richprins »

Chinese again the new consumers, but anyway.

Pangolin are actually quite common in Southeast Asia, hence the massive numbers mentioned. Also far more common in Central Africa than down here, where we have one hardy species.

A big problem is that they are very difficult to rear/breed in captivity, compared to other red-list species, so very serious in that regard. O/


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Re: Threats to Pangolins

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HK Customs seizes pangolin scales in container from South Africa

Hong Kong Customs today (May 28) detected a sea-bound suspected cargo smuggling case and seized about 1 000 kilograms of pangolin scales from a container at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound. The total value of the seizure was about $5 million. This is the largest seizure of pangolin scales in five years.

Customs officers, through risk assessment, selected a shipment arriving from South Africa, declared as "Plastic pet", for inspection. Upon examination, Customs officers found the pangolin scales in 40 of the 510 bags of goods in the container.

As the pangolin scales were not declared on the manifest, they were seized by Customs officers for further investigation.

Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing unmanifested cargoes is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

Under the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance, any person found guilty of illegally importing a specimen of a scheduled species of Appendix II without a licence is liable to a maximum fine of $50,000 and imprisonment for six months.
Ends/Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:40


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Re: Threats to Pangolins

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IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group Conservation Action Plan published - Download PDF here
Occurring in Africa and Asia, pangolins have been exploited locally for food and traditional medicines through history. This continues today, despite protective measures in most countries in which they occur.
The main threat to pangolins today, both in Asia and increasingly in Africa, is hunting and poaching for illegal international trade. This typically involves live pangolins, and their meat and scales, which are primarily destined to East Asia, most conspicuously China and Vietnam.
Such is the scale of this trade that in the last decade alone it is believed that more than one million pangolins have been taken from the wild. As a result, pangolin populations in Asia are in precipitous decline, and they have been extirpated from vast areas. Worryingly, inter-continental trade in African pangolin parts to Asian markets is now taking place.
The primary threat to pangolins in Asia, and increasingly in Africa, is illegal hunting and poaching for illicit international trade, which is largely driven by
market demand in East Asia. This trade involves live animals and pangolin meat, which is considered to be a luxury product in consumer markets in Asia, most conspicuously China and Vietnam. Pangolin scales are also traded heavily here; they are used as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicines to treat a range of ailments. Both meat and scales are seized in trade by the tonne.
This trade occurs despite pangolins being protected species in most countries in which they occur, and despite being listed in Appendix II of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. It also occurs despite the Parties to CITES establishing zero export quotas for wild-caught Asian pangolins traded for commercial purposes in the year 2000 (CoP11), which effectively means this trade is banned.
Driving this illegal trade is on-going and seemingly increasing demand for pangolin meat and scales, which has been catalysed by increasing wealth and affluence in East and Southeast Asia. The trade has now reached epic proportions, with over one million pangolins believed to have been traded illegally in the last decade, leading pangolins to be given the unfortunate label of being the most heavily trafficked wild mammal in the world.
Although little is known about pangolin populations generally, evidence suggests populations in China are potentially commercially extinct. Consumers in China have, since the mid-1990s, been driving regional trade in pangolins and their body parts, most notably form Southeast Asia, but also South Asia, and increasingly
today, from Africa as well.
Although African pangolins do not have zero export quotas established in CITES, they are also subject to increasing levels of unrecorded, and therefore illicit
international trade.
In many range countries in Africa pangolins continue to be hunted and poached locally as a source of food, and their scales are in demand for use in traditional African bush medicine, known as ‘muti’ or ‘juju’, among other traditional and ritualistic uses.
However, in the last few years, a particularly alarming trend is the development of a tangible inter-continental commercial scale trade in pangolin parts, mainly scales, from African countries to Asian markets, and which has involved all four species of African pangolin.
In Southern Africa, the Temminck’s ground pangolin is also threatened by land management practices such as the installation of electric fences, which are responsible for a siginificant number of fatalities each year.


Duke

Pangolins being eaten to extinction

Post by Duke »

Here

Pangolins are being "eaten to extinction" due to a demand for their meat at banquets in China and Vietnam and their scales for use in Chinese medicine, conservationists have warned.

In an update last week to the authoritative Red List of endangered animals, all eight species of the scaly anteaters were upgraded to threatened status.

Resembling a pine cone on legs, they are the world's only scaly mammal, using their scales for armour to protect against predators and their long, sticky tongues to catch prey.

According to experts at the Zoological Society of London, the demand for the animals in Asia has been so great that poachers are now turning to Africa, where four of the species are found. Conservationists say there is already evidence of an underground, intercontinental trade in pangolins between Africa and Asia.

More than a million are believed to have been illegally caught in the wild over the last decade globally, giving them the unenviable record of being the most illegally-traded mammal in the world.

Professor Jonathan Baillie, conservation programmes director at ZSL, said: “All eight pangolin species are now listed as threatened with extinction, largely because they are being illegally traded to China and Vietnam. In the 21st century we really should not be eating species to extinction – there is simply no excuse for allowing this illegal trade to continue.”

Over £4m needs to be spent to address the problem, according to the Pangolin Specialist Group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which on Tuesday published an action plan on saving pangolins.

The plan says that cutting demand is the "single most important activity to address the decline in pangolins", and proposes a £1m campaign to raise awareness of the species' plight and £2m for a strategy to cut demand in China and Vietnam. It also calls for funding to support patrols at pangolin strongholds, and better understanding of their ecology.

The Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) and Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) are now listed as critically endangered, the worst listing on the Red List before a species is declared extinct, with the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) and Philippine pangolin (Manis culionensis) upgraded to endangered.

The four African species, which were previously listed as "least concern" or "near threatened" are now all classed as the more serious "vulnerable" listing.


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Re: Pangolins being eaten to extinction

Post by nan »

alas... I read that as well :-( :no: :no: :no:


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Pangolin

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THE STORY OF A LITTLE PANGOLIN WHO’S MAKING A BIG DIFFERENCE

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Luckiest Pangolin Alive


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