China
20:06, 08-Jan-2017
Saving the world's most trafficked mammal: pangolins
Updated
10:32, 28-Jun-2018
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In late December, China announced that it had seized the largest-ever shipment of illegally trafficked pangolin scales. Shanghai customs arrested three people for allegedly smuggling the scales of one of the most endangered species in the world.
An estimated 100,000 pangolins are captured and smuggled every year for their meat and scales, which are believed to have medicinal benefits, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
However, after much effort and campaigning by activists, in September 2016, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) summit in Johannesburg decided that it would list all eight species of pangolins in its Appendix I, recognizing that pangolins are now threatened with extinction and providing the highest level of protection.