AN American wildlife law-enforcement expert has warned that pangolins may become extinct sooner than later unless authorities step up their efforts to effectively stop the illegal trade of the critically endangered animal.
George Phocas, formerly of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (US-FWS), said that Pangolin, arguably now the most illegally traded species in the world is facing extinction, possibly in the next two years because of the massive harvesting of these ant-eating species from the wilderness of Africa and Asia where they are known only to occur.
Interviewed by the BusinessMirror on Wednesday at the sidelines of the Conference on Wildlife Forensics as A Tool to Combat Wildlife Trafficking held in Mandaue City, Cebu, from July 16 to 18, Phocas said recent reports of dead pangolin seized by authorities are cause for alarm.
Phocas has extensive experience working with various law-enforcement agencies in Asia under the US-FWS international attache program prior to his retirement. He has also worked on the pangolin case for five years in the Philippines.
He lamented that his first pangolin trafficking case in his career doing undercover sleuthing against wildlife traffickers failed to gain traction back then because of perceived “insignificance.”
Global concern
Today, he said there is a global concern for the pangolins and law enforcement must work harder to stop the illegal activities that target this particular species in the wild.
There are only eight known pangolin species in the world—four are in Africa and four in Asia, including the Philippines—the Palawan or Philippine pangolin, scientifically called Manis culionensis, a species endemic to Palawan Island.
Hunted for its meat, scale, internal organs, including testicles, pangolins are believed to be miracle cures to various ailments, with meat as food, and parts used for traditional medicine with China and Vietnam being major buyers. Their perceived health benefits, specially as an aphrodisiac, is reportedly boosting the illegal trade of this species.
Vanishing species
According to the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Palawan pangolin, a scaly anteater that feeds of termites and ants is an elusive animal and little is known about their behavior in the wild.
This shy mammal has a voracious appetite for pesky termites and ants, hence, their extinction could cause an ecological imbalance, possibly an increase in the population of these potentially pesky insects.
The least studied among pangolin species in the world, the Palawan pangolin was just recently declared as distinct from the Sunda pangolin that it was earlier thought to be. It is now the subject of conservation efforts by authorities and wildlife conservation groups based in Palawan, considered as the country’s last ecological frontier, where communities admitted that hunting animals for food, medicine and pet trade along with other forest products is a way life.
All pangolin species are now threatened with extinction, including the Philippines species, where illegal wildlife trade is considered a major driver of biodiversity loss.
Image credits: Katala Foundation/USAID-Protect Wildlife Project