Pangolin trade

[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.

An early known example is in 1820, when Francis Rawdon, first Marquis of Hastinges and East India Company Governor General in Bengal, presented King George III with a coat made with the scales of Manis crassicaudata.

Additionally, the ‘Splendours of the Subcontinent’ exhibit in the Royal Collections Trust is home to a coat and a helmet made from pangolin and armadillo scales.

The coat and helmet were presented to King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, during his tour of India in 1875-76 by Bhavani Singh, Maharaja of Datia.

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.

[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.

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.

[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.

[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.

[26] In Ghana, pangolins are hunted using traps, guns, or dogs, and often traded directly from hunters to roadside restaurants or wholesalers, bypassing markets.

[29] The scales are used by Yorubic medical practitioners in Nigeria to treat, cure, or regulate stomach disorders, gonorrhea, menstrual periods, genital itching or swelling, wounds and cuts, mental illness, stroke, and serve as an antidote for various poisons.

[31] The Awori Tribe uses them to treat back pain, mental illness, rheumatism, stomach ulcers, venereal diseases, wounds and cuts, low sexual libido, and as antibiotics.

[29] Research in Lentsweletau, Botswana found scales used for cracked heels, persistent cough, and nose bleeds in humans, and, when burned, the smoke was used to improve the health of cattle.

[31][32] In Ghana, they have been used for rheumatism, convulsions, headaches, stroke, waist pain, asthma, mental illness, fever, bed-wetting, broken legs, rashes, and breast cancer.

For example, in Sierra Leone, it is used to heal premature babies, stomach disorders, rheumatism, epilepsy, high blood pressure, body pain, common childhood diseases, convulsions, and anemia.

[35][29][30][31][34] Some groups in Nigeria believe the flesh of the pangolin can give the consumer the power of divination, or otherwise bring good luck, safety, or calmness.

[32] The scales of a pangolin may be used to give good luck, increase the productivity of a farm, ward off witches and evil forces, have a safe delivery of a child, provide protection, to arrest thieves, and to create amulets.

[34] Governments and non-governmental organizations have undertaken a variety of conservation efforts, with varying activities and degrees of success in different parts of the world.

The IUCN's Species Survival Commission formed a Pangolin Specialist Group in 2012, comprising 100 experts from 25 countries, hosted by the Zoological Society of London.

According to Annette Olsson, technical advisor at Conservation International, one of the problems the pangolin faces is that, unlike more well-known endangered animals like elephants, rhinoceroses, pandas, or tigers, "It's not huge and not very charismatic.

"[8] Legal measures focus on curbing poaching and the supply side of the market, while media attention and public awareness can be crucial to the success to animal conservation efforts by affecting demand.

[14] When foraging for their food by digging through the ground, pangolins actually help aerate the soil and assists in the process of decomposing organic matter.

[36] This conservation strategy is similar to the increasingly common destroying confiscated ivory to deter poaching and generate public outrage or action.

As with ivory, there is an opportunity cost to destroying the material, trading awareness via public spectacle for the money which could be gained by reselling what was confiscated.

The animals do not adapt well to alternative or artificial foods and suffer stress, depression and malnutrition, leading to significantly shortened lifespans.

[1] In an episode of the BBC program Natural World, David Attenborough highlighted the Sunda pangolin as one of the ten species he would like to save from extinction, recalling rescuing "one of the most endearing animals I have ever met" from being eaten while working on a film early in his career.