Slaughter of pangolin, green turtles in Palawan exposed
Pangolin AFP FILE PHOTO
Large shipments of anteater and turtle parts were seized in the southwestern province of Palawan earlier this week in what authorities said was an indication that the illegal trade in the endangered animals was booming.
About 27 kilograms
(58 pounds) of Philippine pangolin, or anteater, about to be smuggled to Manila as goat meat was confiscated on Wednesday at Puerto Princesa City Airport, said Alex Marcaida, an environment official.
Two days earlier, 95 kg (209 lb) of pangolin scales and 90.5 kg (200 lb) of scutes from endangered hawksbill and green turtles were seized at the same airport, Marcaida said.
Monday’s shipment, which had a market value of nearly P1 million ($23,000), was misdeclared as dried fish.
Chinese delicacy
Pangolin is a Chinese delicacy. Its scales are used in Chinese traditional medicine.
Scutes—the plates that cover turtle shells—are used to decorate guitars and other products.
According to Marcaida, traders may be increasingly turning their attention to Palawan, home to many exotic wildlife, for pangolin meat because the animal’s population has been vanishing in other parts of Southeast Asia due to hunting and deforestation.
The International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said rising demand for pangolins, mostly from mainland China, and lax laws were wiping out the unique toothless anteaters from their forest habitat in Southeast Asia.
International ban
The animals are protected by laws in many Asian nations, and an international ban on their trade has been in effect since 2002. But these measures have had little impact on the illicit trade, according to the IUCN.
The IUCN lists the Philippine pangolin, which is endemic to Palawan, as close to becoming a threatened species.
But Marcaida, who is from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, said the government considered the mammal a threatened species because of the continuing illegal trade.
He said the strict monitoring of trading in live pangolin may have prompted traders to try to smuggle them as meat and scales.
A kilogram (2.2 lb) of pangolin scales sells for P5,000 ($114).
The same traders may be behind the two shipments, Marcaida said, adding that no arrests had been made and the investigation was ongoing.
The shipper of Wednesday’s haul left the cargo with an airport porter, while Monday’s shipment, which was bound for Cebu City, went through a courier company, he said.
