CBCGDF’s Pangolin Team Interviewed by The Washington Post
2018/1/9 13:56:00 本站

The pangolin team from CBCGDF recently received an interview with The Washington Post correspondent in Beijing about the pangolin protection incident. In response to the questions on the status of pangolin protection, CBCGDF's efforts, the Chinese pangolin protection and other issues, our colleagues from CBCGDF answered one by one. They said the large-scale reduction and almost disappearance of pangolins in the wild has been an undeniable fact of the past few years. We visited a lot of people who had witnessed, eaten, and caught pangolins for years and decades, but these people had to switch jobs in recent years – because pangolins can not be caught in the wild nowadays.
In recent years, China's performance management of endangered species has achieved new development and new breakthroughs. It has won wide acclaim from the international community, demonstrated the demeanor of a responsible big country and effectively enhanced China’s international image. This is universally recognized, every year our customs have intercepted a considerable amount of pangolin products. For example, Shenzhen customs intercepted 11.9 tons of pangolin scales from Africa.
In the efforts to protect the endangered species pangolin, CBCGDF also stressed that China’s civil society, the vast number of wildlife protection volunteers have made great contributions and they have demonstrated that public participation is an effective strategy for the national biodiversity conservation. One colleague said that the pangolin team from CBCGDF and wildlife volunteers are working so hard in the frontline to protect pangolins such endangered species. He cited some cases exposed by volunteers to illustrate the important role of the masses in protecting endangered species, combating illegal hunting and protecting biodiversity. Only in 2017, the pangolin team from CBCGDF conducted many consumer markets and black markets transactions surveys in major southern provinces. They have effectively turned 2017 into a year of turning pangolins' destiny.
During the interview the correspondents particularly asked the head of the team about her experience of going to Guangxi in August 2017 to rescue 34 smuggled pangolins intercepted by the Customs. She answered and introduced the establishment process, significance and so on of “China Pangolin Conservation Area·Guangxi”.
As for the question“If Malay pangolin is an invasive species”, our colleague answered that there are three species of pangolin distributed in China, including the Malayan pangolin. He also stressed that in the traditional Chinese medicine there is “medicinal pangolin” which refers as Chinese traditional distribution of pangolins, not African pangolins. Whether African pangolin scales are effective in Chinese medicine or have toxic side effects is uncertain.
In response to questions raised by the correspondent about the China Pangolin Conservation Area, the head of our team gave a reply and introduced the four-step strategy for protection of pangolins proposed by CBCGDF: boycott pangolin consumer industry, relevant sectors find pangolin supply channels and violators, encourage public participation and raise public awareness, and promote pangolin protection legislation through advices.

pangolin.jpg


pangolin1.jpg

(图为深圳大鹏海关展示查获的穿山甲鳞片。  陈文 摄  来源:中新网)