Pangolin

Save Viet Nam's Wildlife (SVW) and Cuc Phuong National Park has rescued 56 Java Pangolins in Thanh Hoa Province. The animals were rescued by authorities last Friday in Nga Son district, 30km north of Thanh Hoa City. Officials said the total weight of the captured animals was 232kg. This is the largest incident in which officials rescued pangolins being illegally sold in Viet Nam. According to experts and staff from the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Education Centre, a joint-programme between SVW and Cuc Phuong National Park, pangolins were captured and held by traffickers at different locations. Officials said all pangolins have since been recovered and will soon be released in area forests. The centre also rescued a baby pangolin, which was born while being transported. Also on Saturday, the centre received seven pangolins, six of which were from Pu Mat National Park in Nghe An Province, and one donated by a resident in HCM City. The centre said this group included two yellow … [Read more...] about 56 pangolins rescued in Thanh Hoa

The Education for Nature – Vietnam (ENV) has initiated a “zero tolerance” policy on illegal hunting, trading and use of pangolins – which are on the brink of extinction. Vietnamese forces discover illegal trade of pangolins. Pangolins are small mammals found mainly in S.E. Asia and often called ‘scaly anteaters’. According to the ENV, close to one million animals have been illegally hunted and traded over the past 10 years, with China and Vietnam considered the two most critical links in the transnational chain of illegal pangolin traders. In October 2015, Chinese customs officials in Guangdong province seized 11.5 tonnes of frozen pangolins. Meanwhile, Vietnamese forces confiscated over seven tonnes of pangolin scale at several local ports in the last five months of the year. “ It is time to take a stand ,” says Vu Thi Quyen, Executive Director of ENV. “ By declaring war on pangolin crime, we are committing … [Read more...] about Education for Nature declares war on pangolin crime

Hung Yen police said on February 2 that they had seized a truck transporting 81 pangolins, a rare animal species banned from trading. This was the biggest ever wildlife smuggling case caught red-handed in the northern province. When being checked, the truck’s driver Ngo Gia The could not show papers proving the legal origin of the pangolins. He said that the animals were transported from the central region to northern Quang Ninh province, and then brought to China for sale. The pangolins were handed over to the local Wildlife Rescue Centre. The Education for Nature – Vietnam (ENV) has initiated a “zero tolerance” policy on illegal hunting, trading and use of pangolins – which are on the brink of extinction. The animal is sought after for its scales, which are believed to cure a wide range of diseases in Asian folk medicine. According to the ENV, close to one million pangolins have been illegally hunted and traded over the past 10 years, with … [Read more...] about Smuggling case of 81 pangolins detected in Hung Yen

Pangolins in Indonesia are at risk of extinction because of an illicit trade that sees thousands of the critically endangered animals trafficked each year, a study showed Thursday. Pangolins in Indonesia are at risk of extinction, a new report says, after finding that 35,000 of the animals were seized by officials in the country between 2010 and 2015 More than 35,000 pangolins -- docile, ant-eating mammals with a thick armour -- were seized by Indonesian authorities between 2010 and 2015, exposing the scale of the illegal business, the study by wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic said.Indigenous to parts of Southeast Asia and Africa, the pangolin is prized as an edible delicacy and ingredient in traditional medicine, especially in China and Vietnam, and is the world's most trafficked mammal.Rampant poaching is putting Indonesia's indigenous manis javanica species at an "extremely high risk of extinction", the group said."Indonesia's wildlife is being drained on an industrial … [Read more...] about Indonesian pangolin faces extinction due to trafficking: study

Pangolin smugglers are constantly opening up new routes to evade law enforcement agencies, a study showed Friday, highlighting the challenge of tackling the trade in the world's most heavily trafficked mammal.While at least 20 tonnes of pangolins and their parts are seized annually after being trafficked across borders, smugglers were using dozens of new routes for the illegal trade every year in a determined effort to stay ahead of authorities, it said.The scale-covered, ant-eating mammal is prized as an edible delicacy and ingredient in traditional medicine, especially in China and Vietnam as well as across Africa.International trade in all species of the shy creature was banned at a global wildlife meeting in South Africa last year but activists say there has been little sign of a slowdown in rampant poaching.The study by wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic and the University of Adelaide analysed international seizures from 2010 to 2015 -- in cases where at least one border was … [Read more...] about Pangolin traffickers opening up new routes: study