Threats to Pangolins & Pangolin Conservation

[okie]

Is there anything the Chinese won't eat?

Its not only what they eat , but their stupid beliefs of magic medicinal powers of rare animal parts

[Richprins]

Chinese!!

[Puff Addy]

Don't forget the Vietnamese!

[nan]

all Asia

[Richprins]

Pangolin poachers tracked down in Hoedspruit
Worldwide more pangolins are poached than rhino. This week three pangolin poachers were apprehended on the western side of the Kruger National Park border.
23 hours ago


HOEDSPRUIT-In a joint operation the National Intervention Unit and the Environmental Crime Unit of the Kruger National Park and the Protrack Rhino Task Team, used information received to track down three pangolin poachers on the western borders of the KNP close to Hoedspruit on 14 June.

The pangolin was rescued and released in a safe undisclosed location. The investigation is ongoing.

The two males and a female were on their way to sell the pangolin on the market in one of the local communities.krt pangolin

Criminal gangs and syndicates have made the little scaly animal the most trafficked animal for bogus medicines and gourmet meals. Worldwide more pangolins are poached than rhinos.

Despite all international conservation efforts on 13 June Nigerian Customs Service at the International Airport in Lagos arrested two Chinese nationals for attempting to smuggle elephant tusks and 381 kg of Pangolin out of the country.

On 10 June 500 kilograms of Pangolin scales have been recovered at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

Over 1 million pangolins are estimated to have been poached in the last decade in order to satisfy demand for their meat and scales.

As greater protection is needed for pangolins all IUCN members will be encouraged to support transferring all eight pangolin species from Appendix II to Appendix I of CITES at the 17th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP17) to CITES, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2016, in order to contribute to their conservation.

Photographs: Pro-Track


http://lowvelder.co.za/340035/pangolin- ... oedspruit/

[Lisbeth]

Poaching upsurge pushes pangolin closer to extinction



BY OSCAR NKALA - 19 JULY 2016 - TRAVELLER24

Despite the arrests and long-term sentences passed on several Zimbabwean pangolin capturers, dealers and traffickers over the past year, conservationists believe the increased seizure of live pangolins, pangolin scales, skins and other products indicate an upsurge in poaching of the world’s most widely trafficked animal.

According to quarterly crime incidence statistics for the period January to April 2016 released by the Tikki Hywood Trust in May, pangolin poaching crimes are still rampant in Zimbabwe, “This year alone, Zimbabwe has handled 20 criminal cases involving pangolin poachers and 41 accused persons countrywide. Of those, 16 have already received the mandatory 9-year sentence and 4 have been acquitted. Two warrants of arrest issued (in the same period),” the trust said.

An analysis of recent arrest trends and court cases shows that most of the poaching cases recorded in the period 2015-2016 originated around game reserves in the Mashonaland, Midlands and Matabeleland North provinces. However, the capital Harare remains the pangolin trade capital where live pangolin and product buyers and trafficking kingpins with external links to the South-East Asian and Middle Eastern markets allegedly operate from.

In Zimbabwe, one only needs to read the newspapers to see that despite the laudable law enforcement successes of the past year, there remains a crisis when it comes to the illegal capture, trade and trafficking in pangolin products.

‘Harare remains the pangolin trade capital ‘

While noting the high prevalence of pangolin poaching, the trust has praised the efforts of the law enforcement agencies and the long duration jail sentences handed down by the judiciary as active deterrents to the scourge. According to prosecution analysis figures released by the trust on April 22 this year, 84 people were arrested for crimes linked to illegal dealing in live pangolins and pangolin products in 2015.

In a statement circulated on World Pangolin Day in February, the Tikki Hywood Trust expressed concern that despite tough laws against illegal exploitation, Zimbabwe’s pangolins are still being poached to satisfy the foreign market:

“The pangolin is on the Zimbabwean list of specially protected endangered species. There is very strict legislation around the trafficking of any animal on the list and poachers can expect a minimum of 9 years in jail. The pangolin is of important cultural significance in Zimbabwe. The fact that they are being poached at such a high rate of late is frightening. What is most disturbing is that our natural heritage is being killed to satisfy a foreign market,” the trust said.

In its 2015 poaching crimes report, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (PWMA) said it handled 22 cases of illegal possession of pangolins.

‘Mostly runners and couriers being arrested, not the syndicates’



However, Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) chairperson Johnny Rodrigues told CAT that while the arrest and long-term conviction of poachers is encouraging, the problem would continue if the crackdown excluded the Harare-based syndicates, which are seen as the drivers and enablers of the trade.

“The arrests and sentences are good, but should we take a close look at who is getting arrested and ask ourselves about the value of the targets we are incarcerating. From recent cases I have observed, its just the small boys – the runners and the couriers – who are getting jailed. The leaders and financiers of the syndicates roam free because the law is not building on information gathered from the runners to get to the syndicates and financiers of the trade.

“Several Chinese, and in one case, a Malian citizen, have been arrested while trying to smuggle ivory and live pangolins through the Harare International Airport in the past few years. While the crackdown on these low-level links of the trafficking chain is a positive development, it won’t help unless it goes after the syndicates which finance and which sustain the demand for the animals,” Rodrigues said.

The Tikki Hywood Trust and international wildlife conservation organisation TRAFFIC recently held a workshop to train aviation
staff and security officers from the Harare International Airport on advanced cargo inspection techniques to detect and prevent the smuggling of live pangolins and pangolin products by air.

‘Upgrade the protection all species of pangolin to Appendix 1’

The fight to save the eight species of endangered pangolin received a boost in April when the United States announced plans to join Nigeria, Senegal, Vietnam, India and the Phillipines in co-sponsoring a proposal asking the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to upgrade the protection all species of pangolin to Appendix 1.

The proposal is set to be presented at the 17th edition of the CITES Convention of Parties (COP 17) meeting to be held in Johannesburg from September 24 to October 5 this year. All four African pangolin species – namely the Black-bellied pangolin (Manis Tetradactyla), white-bellied pangolin (Manis Tricuspis), giant pangolin (Manis Gigantea) and ground pangolin (Manis Temminckii) will be covered by the proposal.

Original article: http://traveller24.news24.com/Explore/G ... n-20160719

[Richprins]

If you can kick them, why not sell them?

[okie]

RP , I was going to say exactly the same

[Lisbeth]

WATCH: Pangolins hacked with this digital devices is what it's come down to
2016-10-10 08:04 - Anje Rautenbach

The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which was hosted in Johannesburg last week concluded with mixed results as well as mixed emotions.

While the request to up-list lions and elephants in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe from CITES II to CITES I was denied, the request to up-list Grey parrot and all 8 pangolin species to CITES I was approved and any cross-border movement of these animals and their body parts for commercial purposes are now prohibited.

The up-listing of pangolins to CITES appendix I is a great victory in conservation as this rare creature holds the unfortunate title of being the world’s most trafficked animal, just decades away from extinction.

Dr Dan Challender, a leading member of the Pangolin Specialist Group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commision, shared, “Based on estimates, a wild pangolin is taken from the wild every five minutes.”

What makes matters even more difficult is that due to its shy, elusive and quiet nature, carrying out research of wild pangolins is not an easy task and funding shortages puts a damper on the study of its habitat and genealogy. The exact numbers of pangolins left in the wild is unknown but it is evident that the population of the world’s most poached animal is rapidly declining.

In Africa and Asia, especially in China and Vietnam, pangolin meat is prized as a delicacy and the animal is often killed in high-end restaurants in front of the dinner guests. The scales, which are made up of keratin just like rhino horn and human fingernails, are fried and then grounded into a powder form before it is used in traditional medicines. Consumers believe that it can help cure diseases and cancer, improve blood circulation and also stimulate milk secretion in lactating women.

An average pangolin weighs 2-3 kg and its scales make up only for 20% of its body weight. In May 2016, Chinese authorities intercepted a boat with 1.6 tons of pangolin scales in the ocean off Zhongsan City, west of Hong Kong.

If one pangolin weighs 2.5 kg then one animal has about 0.5 kg worth of scales. The question is, how many pangolins did it take to get 1.6 tons of scales? The answer is not a pretty one and if the scales of 3000 pangolins were found on one vessel it is relatively easy to understand why there is no time like the present for drastic measures.

David McKenzie and Brent Swails visited Tswalu Nature Reserve in South Africa where researcher Wendy Panaino tracks pangolins in the Kalahari. She spends multiple solitary nights in the bush, antenna in one hand and receiver in the other hand, to research this mysterious animal with sound as her only guidance in the dark.

While a difficult task lies ahead of stopping the trade of pangolin meat in Africa, researcher Ray Jansen, is now using the DNA of confiscated scales to track the trade right down to a genetic level.

David McKenzie wrote: “By studying the DNA, they hope to discover which species are being trafficked from which hotspots. Only then can meaningful enforcement measures be put in place, said Jansen.

But even that level of understanding is still years away, researchers admit.”

( The URL of the video is not supported. You must go to the page in the heading to see it)

[Lisbeth]

"Several nations requested the up-listing of lions from CITES appendix II to CITES appendix I, which would kill the growing trade in lion bones and other parts.

Request denied, but no wild lion parts may be traded. Lion parts from captive-bred lions can be traded by South Africa, with that country required to set quotas and report to CITES each year.

In effect this decision entrenches and legitimises the lion breeding programmes in South Africa, and opens up possible channels for the laundering of wild lion parts. Trophy hunting of wild and captive-bred lions continues unaffected."

And who and how is this going to be controlled?