Protect South African people and Pangolins: GOOD welcomes China’s measures to halt illegal wildlife trade
Statement by Mark Rountree, National Policy Officer for GOOD
15 June 2020
Mark Rountree, GOOD’s National Policy Officer, has welcomed new measures from the Chinese government to protect pangolins and halt illegal wildlife trade. “The links between illegal trade of wildlife products and drugs, between poaching and underground crime syndicates, are well established. Illegally traded wildlife products are exchanged for drugs and the impacts on our society are well documented.”
For the first time in decades, pangolin scales have been excluded from China’s recently released list of approved traditional medicines, meaning they can no longer legally be used in the country.
“In addition, we welcome the report that China has now listed Pangolins on the same protection level as their own pandas, effectively prohibiting almost all trade and use of these animals” says Rountree.
“We hope that the new measures from the Chinese government to stop the illegal trade will mean more protection for both the Cape pangolin and for South African communities ravaged by crime and drugs” Rountree said.
Pangolins are scaly ant eaters – nocturnal mammals that eat ants and termites by digging in to ant nests and licking up insects with their long tongues.
Their scales, made of keratin like human finger and toe nails, are used in traditional medicines in the Far East. The illegal trade to supply this huge demand meant that pangolins became the most trafficked animal in the world, placing several species, including the South African Cape Pangolin, at risk of extinction.
Banning the trade and use of pangolins in China “is the single greatest measure that could be taken to save the pangolins” says Peter Knights, CEO of the environmental nonprofit WildAid, an organization that focuses on reducing demand for wildlife products.