Chinese customs officers recently have seized over 3 tons of pangolin scales, in the country’s biggest-ever smuggling bust of the animal parts.
The huge amount of pangolin scales were found by Shanghai customs, mixed with wood products in two containers imported from Africa. It is estimated that 5,000 to 8,000 pangolins could have been killed.
Two suspects involved in the smuggling have been arrested.
The pangolin scales seized by Shanghai customs /CCTV Photo
The pangolin is a kind of mammal with large and protective keratin scales covering the skin. It hardly has any predators except for human beings, who make the reclusive animal among the most trafficked mammals in the world due to soaring demand for their scales, used in medicine, and their flesh, considered a delicacy.
According to Shanghai customs officer Chen Chao, the scales of the animal can be sold at around 3,000 to 5,000 yuan (434 to 724 US dollars) per kilogram in the black market. And 1 kilogram of such scales can be fetched from three to four pangolins.
“The suspects found huge profits in smuggling pangolin scales and gradually stray away from the wood business,” said Chen.
Shanghai customs officer Chen Chao /CCTV Photo
In the last 10 years, at least 1 million pangolins have been hunted and traded worldwide to be eaten or for medical use, according to China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation.
The animal is under second-class state protection in China and the highest level of protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which prohibits international trade of any of the eight pangolin species.
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