Pangolins are faced with stark population decreases across Africa and Asia. This is mainly due to illegal trade and poor regulation.
Pangolins Used for Traditional Chinese Medicine
Pangolins are mammals that are covered in scales for self-protection. Known as "scaly anteaters," these creatures consume larvae, termites, and ants. Their scales have been used for folk remedies and traditional Chinese medicine.
According to SciTechDaily, both legal and illegal trade of pangolins fuel the market for a traditional medicine from China. In spite of this pressing concern, the level of demand for pangolins and other wildlife animals used in traditional Chinese medicine has not been thoroughly looked into.
Now, a recent study delved into pangolin scale trade across China. The study was published in the Nature Conservation journal.
The study was mainly done by conducting interviews with pharmaceutical shop and hospital personnel across two Chinese provinces, namely, Hainan and Henan.
From October 2016 all the way to April 2017, Dr. Yifu Wang, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Hong Kong, and colleagues had conversations with 134 owners and assistants of pharmaceutical shops and 41 hospital doctors.
Mirage News notes that the study discovered that the scales and derivatives of pangolin were widely available and accessible in pharmaceutical shops and hospitals across these two Chinese provinces. While there are regulations in place, these have been unable to stop the pressing illegal trade of pangolin items. Dr. Wang and team discovered that around 34% of the surveyed pharmaceutical shops and 46% of the surveyed hospitals illegally sold pangolin-scale items.
Dr. Wang explains that, at present, legal trade has allowed 711 hospitals to sell pangolin products as traditional medicine. They are granted permission with strict regulations regarding the packaging, manufacturing, and quantity on a national scale. Their study, however, demonstrates that pangolin scales have a high demand and that sellers who were not granted permission are prevalently and illegally selling such items.
She adds that the quantities that are traded by legal sellers could have gone beyond the supply capacity of legal trade sources.
Protect Pangolins Against Extinction
The researchers note how concerning this prevalent illegal trade is. They urge that there is an urgent need to decrease the demand for traditional Chinese medicine involving such scales and to revise current regulations regarding pangolin scale trade. They also highlight how important it is to let the traditional Chinese medicine field cooperate in the fight against illegal trade of wildlife and fight for the protection of these creatures.
In fact, according to World Wildlife, over a million pangolins were poached in the last ten years. Among this are estimated the 195,000 pangolins that were trafficked in 2019 just for their scales. They are considered the world's most trafficked mammals.
Given this, there is a dire need to protect pangolins from becoming extinct.
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