Lazy Legislature
Not Cute Enough for Funding
What reason would governments have to protect this scaly creature? Not money. Unfortunately for the pangolin, they do not have the aesthetic appeal of many creatures that would bring in eco-tourism money. Their lack of economical benefit makes their conservation a low priority in the eyes of many governments. However, in every country where pangolins reside there are laws and sanctuaries in place. Most of these areas weren’t created with the pangolin in mind, but their geographical location benefits them. All eight species are protected in Appendix 1 of CITES (Convention on International Trades in Endangered Species), making the trading and killing of them illegal (Pangolin | Species | WWF, 2020).
image depicting a baby pangolin curled in a spiral (Wix, 2022)
Black Market Activity
image depicting a pile of dead pangolins in bags, being smuggled (Wix, 2022)
The worth of pangolins on the black market is about $4.3m, although the exact number is unknown due to the inability to catch enough smugglers. It’s estimated that the remains of 10,000 pangolins are intercepted each year, but that’s a minuscule percent of what is truly being smuggled (Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2020). If caught attempting to smuggle pangolins, each crew member is fined $100,000 and the captain could go to prison. Unfortunately, even if these cargos are searched, pangolin products are often disguised as frozen meat or other legal products (Chinese Pangolin Wikipedia, 2021).