China Bans Pangolin Scales From Traditional Medicine List To Protect Most Trafficked Animal

The Chinese government has removed pangolin scales from its 2020 list of approved ingredients used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Pangolins are scale-covered insectivores, about the size of a house cat, that are highly valued in Asia for their meat and scales.

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The eight species of pangolins are together one of the most widely trafficked animals in the world, with more than a million individuals traded since 2000, according to a CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) report.

In 2019 alone, more than 97 tons of scales from more than 150,000 African pangolins were intercepted by authorities, according to data collected by the African Pangolin Working Group.

About one million pangolins are estimated to have been poached in the last decade, and 20 tonnes of pangolins and their parts are trafficked internationally every year, according to the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

The upgradation of protection to the pangolin drew mixed reactions on the Chinese social media.

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"Please let go of the pangolins, humans have so many things to eat already," a Sina Weibo user wrote. "It won''t help if we do not completely ban its use in medicine," another one said.

"These actions of China will have a real impact, these are steps that were critical, that needed to be taken if real conservation was going to happen for these animals," CNN quoted David Olson, director of Conservation at WWF Hong Kong as saying.

"Most of the demand for pangolin is coming from traditional Chinese medicine and consumption. That's what is driving this large scale illegal trade."

The delisting of pangolins for use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which was reported on June 9 by media outlet China Health Times.

It follows the Chinese State Forestry and Grassland Administration¡¯s (SFGA) announcement that pangolins are now a national level one protected species in China.

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That gives pangolins the same protection as a species listed under CITES Appendix I, says Steve Blake, the chief China representative for WildAid.

After initially suspecting the snake and the bat for the COVID-19, Chinese scientists believe the pangolin to be an intermediate host of the novel coronavirus.

The contagion, which has turned into a pandemic resulting in the worst global health crisis, was believed to have been spread from Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, the virus' first epicentre which was subsequently closed.

This weekend, China announced to upgrade all species of the pangolin from second-class to first-class protected animals considering their rapidly decreasing numbers due to overhunting and habitat destruction, state-run Global Times reported on Saturday.

Other first-class protected animals include giant pandas, Tibetan antelopes and red-crowned cranes.

The country's animal protection authority said it will work more to protect and rescue the species with measures which include improving their habitat, cracking down on poaching and trafficking as well as setting up a protection research centre and gene bank for the pangolin.