CI-NEWS

Heightened prospects for pangolin protection following links to coronavirus.

2020-02-19

No: 472

Heightened prospects for pangolin protection following links to coronavirus.

The battle for the protection of the depleting pangolin species is considered already half won following scientific research linking its scales to the ravaging coronavirus epidemic. Should the ongoing research demonstrate conclusively that the scales of the pangolin, prized mostly by Chinese for their therapeutic value, are the repository of the coronavirus, this may lead to a ban on their importation, with the corollary of reduced trafficking from Africa which is the only surviving source continent.

The glimmer of hope was offered last Saturday in Yaounde at a press conference organized by the Cameroon Pangolin Working Group on the occasion of the 8th World Pangolin Day.

Franklin Simo, a PhD student researching on the pangolin, told journalists trafficking in the scales of the pangolin may be discouraged if the scientific research proves conclusive. He said the pangolin was a capricious animal with no standard for its ecological follow-up. Simo said each time he saw a pangolin in a park, he feared it was the last survivor.

For his part, Joseph Lekealem, director of Wildlife at the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF), cited measures taken by the Cameroonian government towards protecting the pangolin. He said before the CITES conference in 2016, government had signed a circular letter re-classifying all pangolin species under Annex A of CITES, indicating that they are totally protected species.

Lekealem said thanks to LAGA, some traffickers were caught in Douala with 5 tons of scales, but it was noted that most of the loot was coming from Nigeria and the Central African Republic (CAR). That is why he said Cameroon was collaborating with international NGOs for the protection of the pangolin and fight against its trafficking. It is also collaborating with the police, customs and the gendarmerie to track down traffickers.

One of the NGOs collaborating with MINFOF for the protection of the pangolin is the Tikki Highwood Foundation which is running the Cameroon Pangolin Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at the Mefou National Park. Angela Young, Director of the Cameroon Office, said their role was to rehabilitate live pangolins and release them into the wild. She said without the animal, the ecological balance will be disrupted and so their role was to ensure that pangolins had a second chance.

Speaking earlier, Luc Evouna, Wildlife Trade Officer at TRAFFIC, said the poaching and trafficking in pangolin is fuelled by its frenzied consumption by the Chinese because of its therapeutic value. He said the animal was disappearing in Asia, leaving Africa as the main source. Evouna said scientists did not yet know everything about it and so the current focus on the animal as a result of the coronavirus will unlock hidden knowledge about it.

Asked what was done with seized pangolin scales, the wildlife director said the 1994 wildlife law states that they could be auctioned or conserved because they are like a heritage. He said scales are preserved but they have to work with partners in view of disposing of them by say incineration so that they are not stolen and put back on the market.

Answering a question on research by scientists to ascertain that scales of the pangolin are a reservoir for the coronavirus, Evouna said because of the alert to that effect from a renowned university, the population has been warned against eating them. He said the virus has been declared an international health problem.

On whether there were alternatives proposed to hunters to keep them out of poaching pangolins, Angela Young said there was no immediate incentive to that effect. She said members of the network were still brainstorming on the issue.

The press conference was coordinated by Eric Kaba from LAGA.

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Heightened prospects for pangolin protection following links to coronavirus.