Recently, due to the hesitation and going back on their words from the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on the pangolin’s field release issue, resulting in a batch of pangolin’s trackers ordered by China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) eventually to be canceled. The trackers were ordered in accordance with the requirements of cooperation between the two sides of CBCGDF and the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, but now due to the failing of the implementation of the trackers functionally, the cooperation between CBCGDF and the trackers’ manufacturer company has to be canceled.

Prior to the order of the pangolin’s trackers, the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region had worked with CBCGDF’s pangolins protection working group, made several times of confirmations and urged CBCGDF to provide trackers for future use after the field release of the pangolin. Later, they even organized a specific field study inviting experts from units including CBCGDF on pangolins, on the potential release sites in the woods. During the special field study in March 2019, the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region also determined that the pangolin should be release in the wild, although the location was not yet known. Under this premise, the CBCGDF pangolins protection working group ordered two pangolin field trackers with the manufacturer company for follow-up work.

However, unexpectedly, at the later experts’ seminar on field releasing of the pangolin, relevant experts threw a bunch of tricky opinions on the “determined” trackers. At the same time, the research conclusion from the seminar been drawn turned out eventually as “The current situation is not suitable for the pangolin’s field release”. However, according the understanding of the CBCGDF pangolins protection working group, this type of trackers can now function normally after releasing pangolins in the wild in Chinese Taiwan, Vietnam and Africa. Therefore, the CBCGDF pangolins protection working group had nothing can do but felt deeply helpless about the going back on their words of the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

So far, according to the requirements of the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the previous pangolin field tracker was stranded because of the last-minute change plan of the field release. The CBCGDF pangolins protection working group asked them to return the tracker back and was also rejected by the reason of “no time to take it by themselves”. Currently, it is temporarily “stored” in the forestry department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Under this circumstance, the CBCGDF pangolins protection working group had to cancel the cooperation with the relevant manufacturers on the pangolin field tracker and sent back the contract and invoice to the manufacturer company - thank the company's understanding and support!

(Photo credit: CBCGDF)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/8174.html

By / Niu Jingmei