China Removes Pangolin Scales From List of Traditional Medicines Raising Protection for World's Most Trafficked Animal

The Chinese government has officially removed pangolin scales from the 2020 listing of approved ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pharmacopoeia. The development is expected to end the illegal trade in scaly anteater, the world’s most trafficked mammal. The news reported by China’s Health Times newspaper, comes after the country’s State Forestry and Grassland Administration (SFGA) raised the protected status of pangolins to the highest level last week, with immediate effect. The scales which consist of keratin are ground up into a powder and sold as various products in China. World Pangolin Day 2020: Netizens Flood Twitter Timeline With Beautiful Pics and Videos to Raise Awareness About Pangolins.

According to a CITES report, eight species of pangolins together become one of the most widely trafficked animals in the world. More than a million individuals have been traded since 2000. 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. According to the conservation group WildAid, around 200,000 pangolins are killed for their scales and meat in Aisa. Don’t Hate Bats and Pangolins During This Pandemic! Here’s Why We Should Know the Importance of These Animals.

Trade of all the eight species of pangolin are protected under international law. And three of the four native to Asia are on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered species, including the functionally extinct Chinese pangolin.

In February, the National People’s Congress in China pushed forward a ban on the consumption of wild animals. Steve Blake, the chief representative of WildAid in Beijing, told the Guardian, "We highly applaud this announcement, made in recognition of the need to protect critically endangered pangolins. Along with upgrading pangolins to a national level 1 protected species, these two actions are crucial to help curb illegal trade. This shows China’s rapidly strengthened commitment to protecting wildlife." Pangolin meat is eaten by people in China for good health, sexual benefits or spiritual qualities.

Pangolins which cannot be breed in captivity came to the limelight since Covid-19 outbreak as studies suggested they may have been the intermediate host that transmitted the virus to humans. In January 2020, Chinese authorities shut down the Wuhan wet market where the virus was suspected to have originated.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 11, 2020 11:42 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).