Wednesday 10 July 2013

Pangolins being eaten into extinction

Credit: TRAFFIC
The most traded wild mammal - the pangolin - is being eaten to extinction

July 2013. The Chinese pangolin, one of eight extant pangolins or scaly anteaters as they are also known, was once abundant in China. However, as a result of overexploitation for consumption of its meat and scales, it is now almost certainly extinct there, which is having a devastating impact on the world's remaining pangolins.

This was one of the findings from the first-ever global conference on the conservation of pangolins held by the International Union for Conservation of Nature - Species Survival Commission (IUCN-SSC) Pangolin Specialist Group and co-organized and hosted by Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

Demise of Chinese pangolin has led to persecution of pangolin across Asia and Africa
"Following huge declines in populations of the Chinese pangolin, trade has mainly involved the Sunda pangolin in recent years, which occurs across Southeast Asia, but pangolins are now being sourced from South Asia and as far as Africa to meet demand in East Asia," stated Dan Challender, Co-Chair of the IUCN-SSC Pangolin Specialist Group and doctoral candidate studying the trade in pangolins in Asia at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent. "They are more than likely the most traded wild mammals globally", added Challender.

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