As the illegal trade in pangolin scales continues basically unchallenged , South Africa is stepping up to try and tackle it . It has just been announced that there are plansto build a pangolin refuge – or " pangalorium " – to help worry for live animals seized by tradition , and to undertake vital inquiry to avail protect their vis-a-vis still in the wild .
The pangolin has the dubious honor of being theworld ’s most trafficked mammal . The rare capture of animals as they are embark from Africa to East Asia give just a glimpse of the absolute scale of measurement of the patronage , and just how many beast are killed to satisfy the requirement for the little - known animals ' eubstance parts , the scales of which are used in traditional medical specialty , and the marrow eat as a delicacy .
Just last year , officials in China made the largest ever seizure of pangolin scales when an “ empty ” shipping container from Africa was find out to be enshroud 13 tons of anteater scales . The entire number of animal estimated to have been killed for that one shipment alone is thought to be in the region of between20,000 and 30,000 anteater . That was just one shipment .
The total amount of seizures last year amounted to 47 tons of weighing machine , working out at roughly 90,000 individuals . With customs only thought to intercept 10 percentage of all illegal wildlife swap worldwide , theactual phone number of scaly anteater being slaughteredglobally is breathtaking to reckon .
Because poachers and trafficker have wiped out the legal age of the four species aboriginal to Asia , they have now turned their attending to Africa , and are chop-chop decimating the four aboriginal African species to keep up with zoom need . The trade itinerary now go between east and southern Africa and South Asia are well established and persist unabated .
As a response to this , there are now architectural plan to construct a pangolin rehabilitation nitty-gritty in South Africa where they will handle for those animal lucky enough to have been see by functionary live , as well as deploy sniffer firedog that have been trained to home in on the classifiable yet pungent aroma of pangolin scales , which is actually grow by the poor creature to deter predators .
In the last year , vets in Johannesburg have been given eight confiscated pangolins , but unluckily at least one-half have died , underscoring the demand for better enquiry on how to care for and treat the animals . Their deaths might come up as no surprise , however , when you learn that one was souse with bleaching agent , another smear in pig manure , and a third was douse in fuel – all in a bid to mask their smell from border guard duty .
Officials in South Africa are bug out to wise up to this spike in trade . presently , there are 30 cases of pangolin trafficking go through the court , and this raw shopping mall will hopefully help the misfortunate animals further still .
