Recently, “internet celebrity” pangolin in the animal kingdom is making headlines for its potential intermediate host of a new coronavirus. At present, "the penalty and confiscation of pangolin " has once again propelled the inoffensive mammal, which can only curl up and use its cute puny body to defend itself from the outside world, into the trending topics. Pangolins are the world's most trafficked mammal and are hunted for their unproven medicinal value and so-called "wild delicacy" label.

In 2016, the CITES through the conference of the parties all eight pangolin scales by appendix Ⅱ to appendix Ⅰ proposal, all pangolin scales and its products in the international commercial trade is a complete ban. However, Chinese pangolin has always been classified as a national second-class protected animal, and even though the number of animals has drastically decreased, the classification has not changed, resulting in the protection and management of pangolins cannot match the severe situation they are suffering. According to incomplete statistics by the pangolin working group of the China biodiversity conservation and green development foundation (CBCGDF), the smuggling amount of pangolin scales detected by customs in 2019 was as high as 123 tons. From January 2020 to the present data, the action of protecting pangolin is imperative!

At the beginning of 2020, affected by the epidemic situation, the entire community in China has devoted to fighting the COVID-19 and presenting many beautiful and impressive stories. However, at the critical moment, there are still crazy greedy criminals who have to target their interests to smuggle the scales of pangolin. It is reported that during the period of epidemic prevention and control, 10.65 tons of pangolin scales, worth about 110 million yuan, were seized at the scene in Wenzhou city. The total amount of the transaction reached more than 23 tons, which means nearly 50,000 pangolins died due to ignorance. What is more distressing is that after identification, the scales involved all come from the tree pangolin already listed in the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora, which calls for a total ban on international trade. However, the killing and trafficking of pangolins seem to have no end. On March 9 in the morning, the General Administration of Customs again unified command, Hefei Customs anti-smuggling bureau jointly Guangxi Nanning public security organs, the smuggling operation against wild animals and their products "guard 2020" special action, respectively in Guangxi Nanning, and Anhui Bozhou success abort a pangolin scales smuggling gangs, captured the criminal suspect nine at a stroke, the seized smuggled pangolin scales 820 kilograms. It is reported that most of the seized pangolin scales are from African pangolins which have no medicinal value.

In terms of abundant seized scales, what course to follow? The transparency of hand over and subsequent control of pangolin scales cannot be ignored. Scales are acceptable to the public in scientific institutions where they can be properly kept and used. However, in the process of handover and utilization, there are many stakeholders involved, and if any link has problems, the consequences are unimaginable. How to make the handover transparent, control and supervision more reasonable and efficient is a new challenge with consideration and attention of all relevant parts.

Reference article:

https://witreader.com/articles/568420325554/

By / Yvonne Wang