Plight of the Pangolin

BM
by Bianca Martin0 views·Updated Dec 6, 2021
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  1. Hi for my project. I chose to discuss the illegal trade of penguins.
  2. This animal is of particular interest to me because
  3. eaters of any kind are my favorite mammals.
  4. Penguins also happened to be the most trafficked mammal on earth.
  5. So I'm going to take a few minutes to discuss a little about their natural history.
  6. Some statistics,
  7. cultural views and opinions and actions that have been taken or need
  8. to be taken to aid in the conservation of the shy,
  9. gentle sensitive, amazing species.
  10. Penguins are very unique. They're the only scaled mammals and their identity.
  11. Its meaning they don't have teeth.
  12. They vary in size anywhere from 3.5 to £70 and have scales covering their entire
  13. body which are used to protect them from bites when they feed on ants.
  14. Eight different species of penguin exists in their current
  15. range is tropical asia and sub Saharan africa.
  16. All eight species are at risk of extinction. The I. U. C. N.
  17. Has them all ranked accordingly.
  18. As you can see on this chart on their endangered species list. With
  19. all populations noted to be declining,
  20. penguins are highly sought after in the wildlife trade market.
  21. Their scales are used in traditional chinese medicine and their
  22. meat is seen as a delicacy with the highest demand being
  23. in china and Vietnam.
  24. Despite being difficult to find they are
  25. being poached and sold into the illegal wildlife
  26. trade at alarming rapidly increasing and unsustainable rates
  27. to make things worse for their conservation.
  28. Penguins also suffer from habitat loss and they only give birth to one baby per year.
  29. Unfortunately, penguins are also very easy to
  30. easy to traffic.
  31. Their natural instinct is to curl into a ball when faced with the threat.
  32. So all the hunter has to do is tie a piece of wire around it,
  33. toss it into whatever carrier they're using
  34. and beyond their way.
  35. There is no concern for escaping or injuring you since these animals
  36. are slow and don't have the ability to inflict painful bites.
  37. If penguins do go extinct,
  38. their loss can be devastating for local communities and the ecosystem as a whole,
  39. penguins are natural pest controllers,
  40. since just one pangolin can eat millions of ants and termites
  41. in a year that might otherwise destroy crops and buildings.
  42. So now that we understand a bit more about them, Let's discuss some statistics.
  43. In the last decade, over one million penguins have been victims of poaching.
  44. It is estimated that one pangolin is taken from the wild every five minutes.
  45. So by the time this presentation is over
  46. another penguin will fall prey to illegal wildlife trade
  47. On this traffic report analyzing global pangolin seizures from 2010 to 2015.
  48. You can see that a total of 120 tons were seized during those five years in 2019.
  49. More than 128 tons alone of pangolin scales and meat were
  50. intercepted globally the most any other year that data is available.
  51. Unfortunately,
  52. this number likely only represents about 10% of the actual
  53. trade with the rest of it going unreported or happening underground
  54. culturally.
  55. Views on this subject vary since pangolin scales
  56. are often prescribed in traditional chinese medicine,
  57. they have been used from everything from arthritis, epilepsy, gi disorders,
  58. wound treatment, fertility, to even curing cancer.
  59. However,
  60. there is no credible scientific evidence to prove the efficacy of these remedies.
  61. Since penguin skills are made of keratin,
  62. the same materials found in your hair and nails
  63. in parts of Asia,
  64. penguins are consumed by the wealthy as a sign of their social status.
  65. As the supply of asian penguins has become scarce.
  66. Traffickers are now looking to the african penguins as a mean of supplying demand,
  67. turning Nigeria into a hub for this illicit trade.
  68. Many Nigerians are against this and see the corruption,
  69. placing Nigeria as a burden to biodiversity.
  70. For some, however, penguin trading is simply a way to feed their families.
  71. Many hunters and bush meat sellers are good. People with no evil intent
  72. who are just trying to earn a living.
  73. Most of them aren't even aware that the scales are traffic to asia.
  74. They don't understand the effects are having because they themselves are being
  75. cheated and only getting a small fraction of the entire deal.
  76. The average Nigerian has this notion that wildlife equals bush meat
  77. according to a local Nigerian wildlife veterinarian,
  78. there's a cultural belief that these animals were put in the wild by
  79. God for them to eat and they struggle with the concept of extinction
  80. In 2016 sides voted to ban all commercial trade of penguins.
  81. The Chinese government has made recent policy changes to protect the pangolin.
  82. In 2019,
  83. the Chinese government declared that the use of Pangolin scales in
  84. traditional medicine would no longer be covered by state insurance.
  85. The government also upgraded penguins to the same
  86. level of conservation as tigers and giant pandas
  87. under their National Wildlife Protection law.
  88. My hope is that these improvements did not come too late.
  89. If we're able to kill the demand and therefore value of penguins,
  90. then we would surely see decline
  91. in pangolin trade.
  92. There are many organizations doing their best to rehabilitate those penguins,
  93. lucky enough to survive trafficking.
  94. In conclusion, before these gentle creatures disappear,
  95. countries must work to reduce
  96. demand
  97. and enforce anti poaching laws
  98. to ensure the penguins survival.
  99. Thank you.