Where Can I Buy A Pangolin
Sadly, pangolins are the most illegally traded wild mammals on the planet. They are poached for their meat, which is eaten as a luxury dish in parts of their range, and their scales which are used in Traditional Asian Medicine.
where can i buy a pangolin
Download Zip: https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Ftinourl.com%2F2uer8Z&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AOvVaw0O4OTsBv3Ywwgpa1cuuRNx
You can help conserve pangolins by avoiding purchasing illegal pangolin products, raising awareness and donating to the Pangolin Specialist Group or directly to projects on the ground.
The agreement, approved today by a federal judge, requires the agency to decide by June 2021. It responds to a petition and subsequent lawsuit filed by conservation groups to force the government to make a decision on pangolins and ultimately ensure the United States fully bans pangolin trade.
If pangolins are protected as endangered, the law bans import and interstate sale of pangolin parts in the United States, except for scientific or other conservation purposes. Listing would also heighten global awareness about pangolins and the threats they face and make funding available for anti-trafficking and habitat-conservation efforts.
The pangolin trade is the illegal poaching, trafficking, and sale of pangolins, parts of pangolins, or pangolin-derived products on the black market. Pangolins are believed to be the world's most trafficked mammal, accounting for as much as 20% of all illegal wildlife trade.[1][2][3] According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), more than a million pangolins were poached in the decade prior to 2014.[4]
The animals are trafficked mainly for their scales, which are believed to treat a variety of health conditions in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and as a luxury food in Vietnam and China. In Africa, pangolins are sold as a form of bushmeat, for ritual or spiritual purposes, and use in traditional African medicine. Many times the animal is trafficked just for clothing and fashion.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which regulates the international wildlife trade, has placed restrictions on the pangolin market since 1975, and in 2016, it added all eight pangolin species to its Appendix I, reserved for the strictest prohibitions on animals threatened with extinction.[5][6] They are also listed on the IUCN Red List, all with decreasing populations and designations ranging from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered.[7]
Pangolin behavior varies by species, with some living on the ground, in burrows, and some living in trees. A common predator, big cats, struggle to contend with pangolins' scales when rolled up. But while well-equipped to defend against natural predators, they are easily caught by poachers, who simply pick up the animals when they roll into a ball.[2][5]
All eight species of pangolin are listed on the IUCN Red List, with designations ranging from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered.[7] According to the IUCN and other scientists and activists, the populations of all species are rapidly decreasing.[7][1]
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which regulates the international wildlife trade, added the eight known species of pangolin to its appendices in 1975. CITES places species it seeks to protect in three appendices organized according to urgency and, correspondingly, the strictness of the regulations. Appendix I includes the strictest prohibitions and is reserved for animals threatened with extinction.[6] In 1975, Smutsia temminckii was placed in Appendix I; Manis crassicaudata, Manis culionensis, Manis javanica, and Manis pentadactyla were placed in Appendix II; Smutsia gigantea, Phataginus tetradactyla, and Phataginus tricuspis were placed in Appendix III.[9] In 1995, Smutsia and Phataginus were moved to Appendix II. Finally, in 2016, at the 17th CITES Conference of Parties in Johannesburg, representatives of 182 countries unanimously enacted a ban on the international trade of all pangolin species by moving them to Appendix I.[5] Though the individual species are listed in Appendix I, the family as a whole (Manidae) is under Appendix II, with the implication that if additional species are discovered, they will be automatically placed in Appendix II.[9]
Despite restrictions on trade in place since 1975, enforcement is not uniformly strong. Most efforts have focused on curbing the supply side of the trade, but demand remains high and there is a thriving black market. Pangolins are believed to be the world's most trafficked mammal, accounting for as much as 20% of all illegal wildlife trade.[1][2][3] In 2014, the Worldwatch Institute reported that more pangolins were seized than any other animal in Asia's wildlife black market.[10][11] Estimates place the number of pangolins poached each year at between 10,000 and 100,000.[2][1] The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that more than a million pangolins were poached in the decade prior to 2014.[4] Most are sent to China and Vietnam, where their meat is prized and scales used for medicinal purposes.[2]
African and Asian nations frequently report on noteworthy confiscations of pangolins and pangolin parts. When a Chinese boat ran into a coral reef in the Philippines in 2013, officials discovered it to be carrying 10 tonnes of frozen pangolins.[12]
During the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic, nucleic acid sequences of viruses taken from pangolins had initially been found to be a 99% match with SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19.[13][14] The virus was believed to have originated in bats, and that pangolins were an intermediate host prior to infecting humans. The illicit Chinese trade of pangolins was suggested as a vector for human transmission.[13][15] However, pangolins were eventually ruled out as the definitive source of (SARS-CoV-2), after it emerged that the 99% match did not actually refer to the entire genome, but to a specific site known as the receptor-binding domain (RBD).[16] A whole-genome comparison found that the pangolin and human viruses share only up to 92% of their nucleic acid sequence, while at least 99.8% is needed for a conclusive match.[16] Ecologists worried that the early speculation about pangolins being the source may have led to mass slaughters, endangering the animals further.[16][17]
The black market pangolin trade is primarily active in Asia, particularly in China where the population can be considered as vermin. Demand is particularly high for their scales, but whole animals are also sold either living or dead for the production of other products with purported medicinal properties or for consumption as exotic food.
Pangolins have a thick layer of protective scales made from keratin, the same material that makes up human fingernails and rhinoceros horns.[8] Scales account for about 20 percent of the animal's weight. When threatened, pangolins curl into a ball, using the scales as armor to defend against predators.
The scales can cost more than $3,000/kg on the black market.[2] In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the scales are used for a variety of purposes. The pangolins are boiled to remove the scales,[1] which are dried and roasted, then sold based on claims that they can stimulate lactation,[2] help to drain pus,[2] and relieve skin diseases[8] or palsy.[2] As of 2015[update], pangolin scales were covered under some health insurance plans in Vietnam.[18]
Pangolin meat is prized as a delicacy in parts of China and Vietnam.[3] In China, the meat is believed to have nutritional value to aid kidney function.[8] In Vietnam, restaurants charge as much as $150 per pound of pangolin meat.[8] At one restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, pangolin is the most expensive item on its menu of exotic wildlife, requiring a deposit and a few hours' notice. Restaurant employees often kill the animal at the table, in front of diners, to show authenticity and freshness.[18]
According to Dan Challender of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's pangolin specialist group, "The fact that it's illegal isn't played down and is even attractive, because it adds this element that you live beyond the law."[18]
The official pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China continues to include Chinese pangolin scales as an ingredient in TCM formulations, and there is a legal market for scales.[19] Today the main uses of pangolin scales are to unblock blood clots, promote blood circulation, and to help lactating women secrete milk. There are many other applications for treating gynecological diseases, and pills that contain powdered pangolin scales are used for treating blockages of the fallopian tubes to cure infertility.[19] TCM researchers and inventors continue to expand the number of applications of pangolin scales: patents continue to be filed for medicinal formulations, and medical journals continue to publish articles extolling health and healing benefits, including the treatment of diseases that are not recognized by Western medicine. Recently added benefits include curing anorexia in children (2002)[20] and adhesive intestinal obstruction (2004).[21]
Though meat and scales are the primary drivers of the intercontinental pangolin trade, there are also other less common parts and uses. Pangolin wine is produced by boiling rice wine with a baby pangolin.[1] It is purported to have various healing properties, such as for treatment of skin disease and improved breathing.[1][22] Pangolin blood is similarly viewed by some as having medicinal value.[1] Pangolin skins have also been trafficked. In 2015, Uganda reported it had seized two tons of pangolin skins.[8] There is also evidence of live pangolins traded internationally as zoo animals.[23]
Humans hunt, trade, and traffic pangolins in Africa for spiritual purposes, traditional medicine, and consumption as bushmeat.[23][24] In some areas, poaching of pangolins is protected by either laws or cultural or spiritual taboos.[25] For example, chiefs within the Hurungwe District of Zimbabwe prohibit the killing or trade of Pangolins.[25] 041b061a72