It is the most poached mammal on the planet, it has been accused of transmitting Covid-19 to humans, its horny scales are used in Asian traditional medicine to treat — without any results — practically anything, from low breast milk supply to arthritis, and due to poaching all eight existing species are at risk of extinction. And yet, at last, there is a glimmer of hope for the pangolin. China, the principal driver of the global decline of pangolins, has finally removed the scales of these animals from the list of approved ingredients for traditional medicine.

Pangolin like the panda

The 2020 pharmacopoeia thus does not include pangolin scales for the first time in decades. The news, reported by the Chinese newspaper Health Times and not yet officially confirmed by the authorities, came just days after the Chinese government had announced the upgrading of the pangolin's protection status, which will henceforth enjoy the highest level of protection, just like the panda.

"It is a very encouraging signal," commented Zhou Jinfeng, secretary-general of the China biodiversity conservation and green development foundation (Cbcgdf), an organisation that has been fighting for the protection of pangolins for years. "Our continued efforts have not been in vain."

A turning point for pangolin conservation

Every year, according to WildAid, approximately 200,000 pangolins are consumed in Asia, hunted for both their scales and their meat, and tonnes of scales are confiscated at borders. All pangolin species are listed in Appendix I of Cites, which prohibits any cross-border movement of animals or parts of their bodies for commercial purposes.

"The ban on using pangolin scales in traditional medicine could be the most effective measure ever taken to save pangolins," said Peter Knights, CEO of WildAid.

The doubts of the Environmental investigation agency

The Environmental investigation agency, a British NGO established to investigate crimes against wildlife and the environment, has however dampened the enthusiasm by pointing out that it is not yet clear whether pangolin scales have been removed, beyond the list of ingredients relating to traditional medicine, also from the section on ingredients used in patented medicines. If that were not the case, part of the Chinese pharmaceutical industry could continue to use pangolins.

Similar cases, the organisation noted, had already occurred in the past with leopard bones and bear bile. It is also unclear what China will do with its stockpiles of pangolin scales. In the past, companies have been able to draw on stockpiles even after products have been banned, without providing data on the quantity of remaining stocks and thereby creating ambiguity.

Environmental Investigation Agency @EIA_News

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♥ 44💬 3 11 giu 2020 · Apri su X →

The effects of the pandemic

If pangolins — for decades torn from their habitats, confined in cramped cages and trafficked from one country to another — are to enjoy greater protection, they will also owe it to the coronavirus. The animals are suspected of having been the intermediate host that transmitted the virus to humans. Thanks to international pressure, which arose after the link between the pandemic and the exploitation of wildlife became evident, China announced a permanent ban on the wildlife trade (relating to the consumption of animals' meat, but not to the use of parts of their bodies in traditional medicine). Next year China is expected to approve revisions to its wildlife protection law, which should clarify the situation further.