We are proud to announced the opening of our state-of-the-art pangolin veterinary and rehabilitation facility within the pristine Lapalala Wilderness Reserve, on World Pangolin Day – February 15th, 2025.
APWG co-chair Alexis Kriel addresses the gathered guests
The inauguration event, held over the course of the weekend, marked a significant milestone in the conservation efforts for Temminck’s pangolin, in South Africa, and for the APWG.
Guests entering the Pangolarium for the first time; APWG founder Prof Ray Jansen gets a guided tour from co-chair Nicci Wright; Lunch in the lapa after the opening
Guests included conservationists, representatives from environmental organisations, ecologists, and scientists, all united in their support for the APWG’s ongoing contribution to pangolin conservation in South Africa. Lapalala Wilderness Reserve, spanning approximately 48 000 hectares in Limpopo province, within the UNESCO designated Waterberg Biosphere, offers an ideal environment for pangolin rehabilitation. The reserve’s diverse ecosystems and state-of-the-art security ensure that rehabilitated pangolins have the best chance for a successful reintroduction back into the wild.
The team that made it all happen: Kate Hughes (Lepogo Lodges); Nicci Wright and Alexis Kriel (APWG co-chairs); Glenn Phillips (CEO Lapalala Wilderness); Gareth Thomas (APWG) and Prof Ray Jansen (founder and past chair APWG)
The Pangolarium (meaning a “place for pangolins”) is a purpose-built facility that aims to enhance the rescue, veterinary high care, rehabilitation, and reintroduction processes for pangolins rescued from the illegal wildlife trade on the west side of Limpopo Province, also accessible from the north of the province, and with a doorway into North West Province. Equipped with advanced medical and husbandry resources, the centre provides a facility where this vulnerable species can recover and prepare for a return to their natural habitat. It will also serve as a basecamp for the APWG’s ongoing research and education initiatives.
The building of the facility has been financed by Lepogo Lodges – an NGO Lodge operator on Lapalala Wilderness Reserve and the Sustainability winner of the Ahead Travel Awards, for Melote House, in the MEA division.
Limpopo Province is historically the province with the highest incidence of pangolins retrieved from the illegal trade, sharing borders with Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Botswana – all pangolin range countries – where transboundary collaborators facilitate the poaching and sale of pangolins in South Africa. Pangolins are currently considered the most illegally trade non-human mammal on the planet, with the eight species (four in Africa and four in Asia) varying from vulnerable to endangered on the IUCN Red List, and with all populations decreasing. They have been resident on earth for 85 million years.
The APWG invites the global community to join in supporting our pangolin conservation efforts. For more information on how to contribute or get involved, please visit our donations page.
This is a story of the persistence and resilience of a pangolin and of the people who watch over her – the dedicated researchers and wildlife monitors who have kept tabs on her since her release.
The pangolin in this story is our very own super-mom, Ally, who was retrieved from the trade in April 2020, released and gave birth to a pup in the months that followed. We are still overjoyed with all the “firsts” Ally and her pup, Pod has given us. Read the full story here.
Ally’s year in the wild
In the year since his birth, Pod has grown up and moved away, while his mother Ally has established herself in a good territory. Through discreet monitoring via her satellite and VHF tags and the strategic placement of trail cameras, the team on the ground has been able to build up a fascinating picture of wild pangolin behaviour. This is unprecedented as pangolins are among the most secretive and elusive mammals in the wild.
One of the most interesting developments was that of a wild pangolin visiting Ally’s burrow. We had no way of knowing if these visits were territorial or if they had another function, but Ally soon lets us know. In recent trail camera footage, Ally was caught emerging from her burrow with a new pup riding on her back. Watch the video below.
This new pup makes Ally’s story the first documented case of a reintroduced pangolin, originating from the illegal wildlife trade, successfully integrating into the wild population. A true pangolin success story!
It takes a village to raise a pangolin pup
There is an incredible team of people behind the success of Ally’s story, and they need acknowledging. Especially the team on the ground who spend days trying to track down pangolins and without whom we would not have a successful release programme. If you want to know what is involved, watch the Francois in action here
Thank you to
Francois Meyer, our Limpopo Field Manager,for managing Ally’s release and taking the lead on her monitoring and for all his hard work and research into pangolin behavior.
Níall Beddy and Whitney Fourie for their hard work in the field, their dedicated monitoring work, and for capturing the amazing trail camera footage.
Finally thank you to Professor Ray Jansen. Not only for his dedication and hard work in the recovery of pangolins, but also for his guidance during all aspects of their recovery and release. In honor of his contribution to all our work, Ally’s new pup will be named Ray.
Help us keep track
To help us in our work of tracking released pangolins and learning more about their secretive lives, please contribute towards our tracking equipment.
We value your contribution to our mission to save the most trafficked mammal!
With your help, we have had our best year so far and we have new and exciting plans for the future of our organisation.
You will find our Chairman’s report here. We pride ourselves on transparency, ethics, good governance, kindness to animals and harmony between us humans.
Ray Jansen
Our mentor and friend, Prof Ray Jansen has resigned as the Chairman of the APWG after 12 years at the helm of what has become a remarkable organisation – it started off as a conversation between likeminded individuals in 2009, the organisation was established as an NPO in 2011 and today we have an international reputation and successes that we would not have imagined would be possible.
Ray has been granted Honorary Life Membership with the APWG, so while he steps down from his immediate role as the chairman of our group, he will not be going away anytime soon.
In Rays words:
After 12 years of working with pangolins and 10 years following the establishment of the African Pangolin Working Group (APWG), I have decided to resign as Chairman and Board member and revert back to my focus on academia – my teaching, but more importantly scientific research in the natural world. I have been truly blessed to be a part of such a wonderful, vibrant and active pangolin conservation organisation that is the APWG and, to have support from such an amazing collective of individuals that make up its Board and field staff. More than that, how can one describe the privilege it has been to work with pangolins. They are spiritual, bewitching, mystical and peaceful beings that have taught me much about life and about the joys and horror that is human nature. I have been honoured by the APWG Board with a Life Membership, for which I am truly humbled. As such, I remain part of this incredible organisation and will continue to assist and support where I can. Nicci Wright and Alexis Kriel have been voted collective co-chairpersons of the organisation – I cannot think of two better people to take the APWG through to greater heights as the organisation currently experiences a growth phase. I remain active and committed to my pangolin research with my postgraduate students and hope to continue for many years to come.
Our work
Our work spans the fields of intelligence operations, confiscations of pangolins from the illegal trade and we are mandated by the South African Government to oversee the high care, rehabilitation of pangolins and their release back into an appropriate wildlife area. We do training for law enforcement, prosecutors, vets and rehabilitation specialists in South Africa and beyond, we work closely with SAPS and the Environmental Inspectorate and our publication of research is extensive.
The African Pangolin Working Group is currently in a growth phase where we are formalising our structure and moving towards an increase in staff. In the last 10 days, we entered into a grant agreement with USAID for combatting pangolin-related wildlife crime in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation area which spans the borders of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. We are in the process of purchasing a vehicle with sponsorship provided by Pangolin Crisis Fund and invitations for projects with artists, photographers and the media come in on a daily basis. Our second International Pangolin Conference will be held in Kruger Park in September and virtually at the same time, with pangolin conservation specialists presenting from across the globe.
We feel excited about the next phase in the life of our organisation. We will continue to grow, to meet the challenges of saving a creature that belongs on this planet and we welcome you to continue to partner with us going forwards.
On 17 September, 2019 at Silver Oaks, Pretoria, members of the Cullinan Stock Theft & Endangered Species Unit, assisted by members from K9 Benoni, Silverton and Law Enforcement Officials from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture & Rural Development also known as the Green Scorpions, and members of the African Pangolin Working Group conducted a sting operation in which a pangolin was offered for sale to an undercover agent.
Four suspects were subsequently arrested and the vehicle they had used to transport the pangolin was seized. At the time of the arrest, the female pangolin was still alive but severely dehydrated and badly compromised. The pangolin died a few days later at the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital due to malnourishment, dehydration and various physical injuries sustained during captivity. The pangolin had suffered severely while it was kept in captivity as its bones and tendons were clearly visible due to emaciation.
Charges
Charges against two of the four suspects were withdrawn by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Pretoria due to insufficient evidence to prove their involvement. Advocate Jeff Nethononda from the Director of Public Prosecutions, Pretoria office, prosecuted the case in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court where the presiding magistrate was Ms Luut. The investigation led by Sergeant Morné Kemp from Cullinan Stock Theft & Endangered Species Unit, worked hand in glove with the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) to secure a successful prosecution and conviction.
Professor Jansen, attached to the Faculty of Science at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, and the founder and Chairman of the African Pangolin Working Group, testified in aggravation that the illegal trade in pangolins makes them the world’s most trafficked mammal. Professor Jansen testified that pangolins are ant eaters, have no defence mechanism and are totally harmless. He further testified that pangolins, globally, are critically endangered and close to being extinct in the near future.
Sentencing
On March 15, 2021, the 2 accused were found guilty and sentencing handed down by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on May 19, 2021 as follows:
Accused 1: Orateng Mekwe, a South African citizen, was sentenced to 10 years direct imprisonment without the option of a fine for Contravening Sec 57(1) of National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 and for carrying out a restricted activity pertaining to the illegal trade of Pangolins.
Accused 2: Jealous Rungano, a Zimbabwean citizen, was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment and to be deported back to Zimbabwe i.t.o Sec 49(1)(a) of Immigration Act 13 of 2002.
They were both declared unfit to possess a firearm i.t.o Sec 103 of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000. Application for leave to appeal was granted.
A clear message
Part of the magistrate’s judgment was that a clear message must be sent to poachers that the illegal trade of wildlife will not be tolerated, just like rhinos, the pangolins and all other wildlife species need to be protected for future generations to appreciate.
The NPA welcomed the sentence as it is the highest sentence ever imposed upon conviction of pangolin poaching in South Africa.
The African Pangolin Working Group’s Chairman, Professor Jansen says that this sentence not only sets a South African and an African continental precedence but also a global precedence for the highest jail sentence given to a pangolin poacher.
On Thursday 13 May 2021 we took part in a very enjoyable panel discussion hosted by Struik Nature (an imprint of Penguin Books) and Richard Peirce, author of Pangolins: Scales of Injustice
While we did not get to all the questions posed before the event, or all the questions asked by viewers, we did get to chat about our work, the pangolins we work with, and how they are individuals with distinct personalities who display a range of human-comprehensible emotions.
Watch this fascinating talk here:
If you would like to support the work we do for pangolins, please donate through one of our many options.
In addition, if you are in South Africa, please register for a My School card, nominate the African Pangolin Working Group as your beneficiary and swipe it wherever you can.
Join environmental activist, author and broadcaster, Richard Peirce, as he chairs a panel discussion about pangolins and their survival.
Pangolins rescued from traffickers come in all shapes, sizes and states of health.
Do the rehabilitators ever feel like giving up?
How much of their hearts do they give to these animals?
What’s so special about pangolins?
What new and exciting pangolin facts are the scientists uncovering?
Would it matter if the world’s most trafficked mammal became extinct?
Why do humans fall in love with a miniature armoured vehicle with a long tongue?
What does it feel like to sit in a vehicle with a loaded pistol on the seat beside you waiting for a sting operation to go down?
Panelists:
Professor Ray Jansen, founder and chairman of the African Pangolin Working Group, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation of Africa’s four pangolin species.
Dr Karin Lourens, Founder-director and head veterinarian of the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, passionate about conservation and the foremost expert in the treatment and rehabilitation of Temminck’s pangolin.
Nicci Wright, wildlife rehab specialist with over 20 years of wildlife rehabilitation experience; Executive Director of the African Pangolin Working Group; Wildlife Project Manager of the Humane Society International-Africa and Director of the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital.
Dr Wendy Panaino, nearing completion of her PhD on Temminck’s pangolin in the Kalahari, Wendy is also a project manager on the Kalahari Endangered Ecosystem Project,
Simon Naylor, Conservation Manager for &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve. Simon has been involved in pangolin conservation since May 2019.
Introduction and Closing by Mdu Ntuli, a South African interviewer, speaker and podcaster (Mdu’s Mike)
There will be a question and answer session after the discussion. You can send through questions in the Zoom chat function during the talk, or you can send them ahead of time via the email address provided on registration.
On the 7th of August 2020, Sheree Bega from the Saturday Star wrote this story from information supplied by the African Pangolin Working Group. There has been a poaching spike out there with many pangolins being retrieved – this is about one of the busiest weeks we had in July.
In just over a week, Ray Jansen and his team have recovered four trafficked pangolins – three of them pregnant – in sting operations from the illicit trade in various parts of South Africa.
In total, 11 people were arrested by a team of dedicated and specialised law enforcement officers.The operations are a sign, says Jansen, of the African Pangolin Working Group, that pangolin poaching has resumed under Level 3 lockdown restrictions.
“It’s just gone mad. The lockdown at the end of March shut all borders, people’s movements and poachers couldn’t move animals over the border from Zimbabwe or wherever. The risk being associated with moving a poached protected species was a hell of a lot higher with all the road blocks and army blocks.
“So it literally collapsed up and when we moved from Level 4 to Level 3, it just went bang and opened the trade all over again. We’ve seen an increase in normal poaching as people have gotten laid off, companies close and work opportunities crash. Rural communities are really in huge trouble and local poaching of porcupines and antelope have skyrocketed as people don’t have money to feed their families.”
Pangolins are the most heavily trafficked mammal on the planet and rank among the most trafficked wildlife species on the continent.
The demand largely for their keratinous scales, used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and for their meat in south-east Asia has created a lucrative illicit market run by transnational criminal syndicates.
In SA, around 16 pangolins have been intercepted in the illicit trade this year. While the international trade has crashed under Covid-19 lockdowns, Jansen says he expects a “huge increase again as ports start opening and the economies starts to open.
“I have good intelligence that in the DRC, Vietnam and Nigeria, they’re stockpiling scales and I think once the ports open we’re going to see a huge movement of the illegal wildlife trade products again.”
So far this year, around 10 tons of scales have been intercepted in Africa – last year this time it was around 70 tons. “I don’t think the trade stopped, I do think it’s being stockpiled.”
Last year, authorities intercepted more than 97 tons of scales from Africa representing over 150 000 animals. But the real poaching onslaught is far higher – only 10% of the illicit trade is intercepted, says Jansen.
A pangolin retrieved from the illegal trade last week in a sting operation on the N4. 7 August 2020.
In June, the Chinese government outlawed pangolin scales as a raw ingredient in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). However, the Environmental Investigation Agency found pangolin scales are still listed as an ingredient in patent medicine formulae found in the official reference book, meaning they can still be legally traded and used.
“The ban is the best news for pangolins I’ve heard in the past 10 years I’ve been working on this order. It’s a massive and monumental step forward for the conservation of a multitude of endangered species including pangolins.
“The loophole is a huge problem because everyone is just going to go and patent their products. But the large majority of commercially available remedies in China are effectively banned, which is huge. I do think China will rule to outlaw it completely and I look forward to that day.”
Jansen is optimistic this will “eventually trickle down to the guys on the ground doing the poaching, that it’s not lucrative anymore and it’s time to do other things.
“This lag period between banning it and removing it out of the trade and taking it from the financial reward, it may take up to a year,” he said.
Dear Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu (Director General of the World Health Organisation) and
Ms Inger Andersen (Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program),
STATEMENT ON NOVEL CORONOVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC AND A RESPONSE TO THE CALL ON THE TOTAL BAN ON GLOBAL “WET MARKETS”
Preamble
Humanity is under siege from a global viral pandemic. We, as a global community, have been through a number of these, many of which have changed the course of history and life as we know it. The current one, commonly referred to as COVID-19, will undoubtedly do the same. Its origin is mainland China – a country not new to catastrophic viral pandemics, recorded as early as 5000 years ago in “Hamin Mangha” and at the same time in “Miaozigou”, both in north-eastern China. Of more recent historical occurrence was the great flu pandemic of 1889, the Spanish Flu of 1918, the Asian Flu of 1957 (also originating from China), and more recently the H1N1 swine flu of 2009 and the ongoing Ebola epidemic. All seem to have a common thread – their origin was very likely a zoonotic infection where the virus was transferred, through a mutation event, from an animal to a human. COVID-19 was a similar event and a similar viral strain had occurred as SARS-CoV in 2002/3 in Guangdong Province, China and SARS MERS in 2012 in the Middle East. Like COVID-19, both were SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) viruses, both seemed to have originated from a common ‘natural’ host and both were unleashed through human utilisation of wild animals for consumption. It is now time that humanity ensure systems and processes are in place to protect both human populations as well as the world’s free-living wild animals and the natural spaces and ecosystems they occupy to benefit all living entities that share this planet.
Currently, there are two dominant schools of thought – one is to have a complete ban on global “wet” markets; the other to impose intense regulation measures within these markets on the animals traded so as not to be to the detriment of human communities and, to a lesser extent, wild animal populations. The first is unrealistic and the second would be almost impossible to regulate. In this open letter, we provide a simplistic summary of the virus, its transmission to humans, our view on a global ban of wet markets and a suggested compromise to both.
The origin and source of COVID-19
SARS or Coronaviruses are a diverse family of viruses with their most likely origin in a natural host species, often bats. Their name originates from the spiky projections on their outer surface that take the shape of a “crown”. Within the natural host, the virus is benign and cannot infect humans. However, the virus has an uncanny ability to mutate and, once it does, the molecular makeup of its binding surface changes and may be compatible with an alternative host that has come into close contact via the spread of blood or body fluid like excreta; or is a species that has preyed upon the natural host. These new (intermediate) hosts were an Asian civet species in the 2002/3 SARS outbreak in China, camels in the 2012 MERS outbreak in the Middle East and pangolins have been unproven accursed with this current SARS outbreak.
For the SARS virus to jump to an intermediate host in a wild natural environment is uncommon, although not impossible. For the SARS virus to be transmitted to an intermediate host via (forced) close contact is more likely and pretty much inevitable. These environments are created by humans in markets where animals are held in unsanitary conditions; welfare is minimal and manifold in species that are in close contact with one another, often slaughtered in what is termed a “wet” market environment. This is a cesspool of disease and is the epicentre of the vast majority of viral outbreaks that infect human populations and emanate from the direct, and often, inhumane utilisation of both wild and domestic animal species.
Transmission to humans
It is widely believed a SARS virus, carried by a species of Horseshoe bat, was passed on in a mutated form to an intermediate host in a wet market in Wuhan, central China, during 2019. The intermediate host species is unknown, however, an Asian species of pangolin was implicated. Either through indirect contact, direct contact of some sort or through consumption, this novel Coronavirus was transmitted to humans and COVID-19 spread like a wildfire across the globe hitching rides on human carriers primarily through rapid global air transport. It is abundantly clear that a future risk assessment strategy and a realistic action plan needs to be formulated urgently.
The total ban on wet markets OR the overregulation of these markets
In principle, inhibiting the spread of dangerous future zoonotic diseases is relatively simple – close down all wet markets. In reality, this is both not possible nor would it be sympathetic to the many millions of people around the world that rely on the utilisation of countless species of both plants and animals for their existence as a source of food and as an advantage in job creation amongst many other outcomes.
Both arguments have been clearly stated in open letters to you by well recognised animal welfare organisations and academics from various sources. Intense regulation in very remote rural communities, and associated wild food markets, in Africa and Asia (primarily) is also not practical nor realistic as the funding, manpower and social urgency does not exist and will not exist for a multitude of reasons. The cultural existence and long history of the utilisation of natural resources cannot be outlawed and set into law within societies that are many thousands of years old with strong cultural and traditional value systems. Many of these activities will simply continue unabated or even move underground and the welfare of animal species will likely deteriorate further and the likelihood of a disease outbreak will be even greater.
Proposed way forward to inhibit the spread of future zoonotic diseases
Zoonotic diseases such as SARS Coronoviruses, Ebola, AIDS, Swine Flu and a multitude of other viruses involve a very specific group of vertebrate terrestrial mammals being kept under conditions where their welfare is compromised and in close proximity to other wild and domestic animals that are being utilised by humans for consumption. This is the ideal climate for both host and intermediate host virus transmitting species.
Firstly, the consumption of predatory terrestrial and semi-terrestrial carnivores, insectivores, a small group of omnivores and a smaller group of frugivores are primarily responsible for a large percentage of these outbreaks or, at least, the initial origin and source of these outbreaks. These include but are not limited to the Felidae, the Canidae, the Manidae, bats, primates, civets, and others (to be identified by WHO appointed epidemiologists) where viral zoonotic epidemic risk is considered very high and likely.
Secondly, inhumane conditions relating to animal welfare, husbandry and close confinement leads to a compromised immune system and play a considerable role in both the origin and transmission of these highly contagious zoonotic viral diseases. Guidelines on humane animal welfare have been developed by a multitude of organisations and can be implimated with little additional cost or effort.
Implementation of regulations relating to both the above is realistic and achievable for the benefit of the welfare of humans and a multitude of vertebrate species that are often regarded as key species in terrestrial ecosystems. The identification of these species (representing animal orders) can be rolled out to communities via visual pamphlets, social media and general media. It is pertinent to mention that current laws relating to protected species within range states are generally and most often ignored. The process of publically identifying certain “groups of species” (Orders) is expected to be more acceptable than providing endless lists of protected species in countries such as Africa and Asia. Mechanisms of communication to even very remote regions have been proven to be very successful recently in a multitude of Asian and African countries with regards the further spread of COVID-19. Similar communication methods can be implemented in the prevention of the use of species identified as high-risk in the potential spread of zoonotic viruses.
These proposed regulations are achievable and will reduce the risk of further epidemiological pandemics considerably whilst ensuring the well-being of species in these markets as well as the humans that depend on these species for survival. This is by no means a definitive ‘recipe’ to the issue at hand but an initial realistic proposal to the benefit of all who are at risk.
Professor Ray Jansen Chairman of the African Pangolin Working Group On behalf of the African Pangolin Working Group
Environmental groups say a symbolic gesture would send a clear signal to the public that use of pangolin scales is no longer permitted. Alexis Kriel reports
A call on the Chinese government to burn its stockpile of pangolin scales is gathering momentum among international environmental groups which say it would be a symbolic gesture of intent in support of the recent removal of pangolins from Chinese pharmacopoeia.
On June 6 there was an official declaration by China’s State Forestry and Grassland Administration that it had elevated pangolins from a Class 2 animal to the level of a Class 1 animal, affording pangolins the highest protection nationally. This provides for a penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment for those caught hunting, killing, smuggling or trading pangolins – giving them the same protected status in China as giant pandas.
Three days later the 2020 edition of Chinese pharmacopoeia was officially published without pangolins or their derivatives listed as approved ingredients.
Pangolin meat is consumed as a delicacy throughout Asia, but it is the scales that account for 90% of the illegal trade. They are used in Chinese traditional medicine as cures for a variety of ailments that purport to clear blockages, disperse swelling, expel pus, alleviate difficulty with lactation and poor circulation.
“This announcement, effectively closing the legal sale of pangolin scales, shuts the last major loophole in pangolin protection efforts,” said Peter Knights, chief executive of WildAid, a United States-based environmental organisation.
Knights said he hoped the Chinese government would do something to raise awareness of the important change. Burning or crushing the scales – as has been done with ivory by other governments – would send a clear signal to the public that use of pangolin scales is no longer permitted, he said.
The African Pangolin Working Group initiated the call this week for a public burning of officially approved government stockpiles of pangolin scales that have been used legally for Chinese medicine and dispensed to some 700 state-certified hospitals.
Professor Ray Jansen, head of the group, said he has counted 60 commercially produced remedies in Chinese pharmacopoeia that use pangolin scales and are distributed through more than 200 pharmaceutical companies.
Investigations by Oxpeckers in 2019 showed there has been a dramatic increase in the quantity of pangolin scales trafficked from Africa to Asia over the past decade to feed this demand. Last year alone, a total of 97 tons of scales were confiscated en route from Africa to Asia – the equivalent of 150,000 illegally poached African pangolins, with a wholesale value of around $500-million before being processed for use and marked up for retail sale, Jansen said.
Jansen appealed for a worldwide burning of all stockpiles of pangolin scales held in official custody, mentioning at least five tons of scales in Nigeria that are currently under the guardianship of customs police. Nigeria is Africa’s key pangolin export country, according to this Oxpeckers exposé.
Secretary general of the China Biodiversity and Green Development Foundation, Jinfeng Zhou, said all officially approved government stockpiles of pangolin scales “must be burnt” to give China credibility. The NGO has been instrumental in persuading the government to upgrade pangolins and to remove them from traditional Chinese medicine.
Zhou said the general public had welcomed the changes but the business owners behind the lucrative trade are a hostile adversary and are in strong opposition to the new status quo. The foundation’s leadership has had to make use of security for protection after a recent arson attack on their offices.
At least 380kg of pangolin scales were seized in Cameroon this week, and two military men were arrested along with a third alleged trafficker in a crackdown on an African pangolin scales trafficking ring. Photo courtesy Eagle Network / Facebook
Burning stockpiles
The burning of stockpiles of ivory by the Kenyan government in 2016 was contentious. It followed a poaching surge in 2012 and 2013 that resulted in the loss of more elephants and rhinos than at any time in the previous two decades. More than 100 tonnes of ivory was stacked up in pyres in Nairobi National Park, representing the tusks of about 6,700 elephants.
Before setting the pyres alight in a ceremonial gesture of support, President Kenyatta sent a message to the world: “No one, and I repeat no one, has any business in trading in ivory, for this trade means death of our elephants and death of our natural heritage.”
This followed a new wildlife law that introduced a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for poaching. While critics disagreed with Kenya’s approach to destroying valuable ivory that could be sold to raise funds for conservation, supporters argued that if ivory has a monetary value it is a tradeable commodity open to abuse by traffickers.
For organisations like WildAid, the challenge going forward is to make consuming pangolins socially unacceptable, not just in China, but also across SouthEast Asia and in parts of Africa, where bushmeat consumption also poses the risk of zoonotic diseases as well as threatening wildlife populations.
“We believe that both the elevated protection of China’s pangolins and their removal from medicine will help to give the public a clear message that pangolin consumption is completely banned and those involved will face stiff penalties,” said Knights. “We hope this will lead to increased collaboration between Chinese customs and African authorities to crackdown on pangolin smuggling.
“The public burning of wildlife contraband has become a definitive declaration of intent on behalf of governments, and burning Chinese pangolin scale stockpiles will be the first of its kind.”
