Undercover investigation: Shocking footage of pangolin poaching uncovered

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Dec 03, 2018, 16:02 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Alarming footage captured by World Animal Protection and WildCRU (Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, University of Oxford) reveals the heartbreaking moment a pangolin is brutally killed for its body parts to be sold on the black market, in Assam, northeastern India.

Highly trafficked: More than a million pangolins are believed to have been killed for the traditional Asian medicine trade between 2000-2013. (c) Neil D'Cruze/World Animal Protection

The footage was captured by an undercover researcher on their mobile phone, and shows a terrified pangolin hiding from hunters in a hollowed-out tree clinging for life, as its tail is tugged. The hunters use axes to cut the tree, but failing to remove the desperate animal, they light a fire to smoke it out. As the pangolin starts to suffocate and lose consciousness it makes a bolt for freedom but is captured, bagged and taken to a hut where the next stage of the ordeal takes place. The pangolin is repeatedly bludgeoned with a machete until it can barely move. While bleeding, it is then thrown into a cauldron of boiling water possibly still alive, where its tragic struggle comes to an end.

Pangolins are often referred to as the world's most trafficked mammal, and this footage demonstrates the huge cruelty the animals endure when hunted. The harrowing clip is part of a two-year study by researchers from World Animal Protection and the University of Oxford into traditional hunting practices in the state of Assam, which borders Bhutan. Interviews conducted by researchers with over 140 local hunters found that pangolins were largely targeted for their scales, which are sold for a premium, with hunters earning the equivalent of four months' salary for a single pangolin. The hunters from these communities were clearly unaware of the part they are playing in the international trafficking trade. Yet the illegal traders that then sell the animal products across the borders on the black market go on to make a large profit.

Pangolin scales are used in traditional Asian medicine, particularly in China and Vietnam. Pangolin scales are made of keratin, the same material that makes human fingernails and hair, and they have no proven medicinal value. Pangolin meat is also considered to be a delicacy in some countries, and the scales are also used as decorations for rituals and jewelry. They are considered to be at high risk of extinction primarily as a result of illegal¹ poaching.

Dr. Neil D'Cruze, Global Wildlife Advisor at World Animal Protection and lead researcher, said: "Suffocated with smoke, beaten and boiled alive – this is a terrifying ordeal and pangolins clearly suffer immensely."

"This footage shines a spotlight on how truly shocking the practice of hunting pangolins truly is. Not only is this a major conservation issue, it's a devastating animal welfare concern. If we want to protect pangolins from pain and suffering in the countries they come from, we need to tackle the illegal poaching trade."

Professor David Macdonald, WildCRU, Department of Zoology, Oxford University, said: "Increasing demand driven by traditional Asian medicine is making pangolins a lucrative catch. It's easy to see why they are being commercially exploited, as scales from just one pangolin can offer a life-changing sum of money for people in these communities, but it's in no way sustainable. Wild pangolin numbers are beginning to plummet."

Reliable estimates of how many pangolins remain in the wild are lacking, although it is thought that over a million individual pangolins were taken from the wild between 2000 and 2013². There are eight species of pangolin³, all of which are considered threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species⁴.

World Animal Protection works tirelessly to prevent cruelty to animals around the world. Although it is well documented that pangolins are being hunted and trafficked, until now, the immense suffering and cruelty that these animals endure when they are hunted has remained relatively overlooked.

To view the undercover footage of a pangolin being poached, visit www.worldanimalprotection.us/pangolins
To read World Animal Protection's report "Suffering at scale: Pangolin poaching for the traditional medicine trade", visit https://d31j74p4lpxrfp.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/us_files/suffering_at_scale.pdf

To combat the global trade in their bodies and scales, and to protect pangolins from the unimaginable suffering they endure, we are calling for:

Strong enforcement of national and international laws
Removal of pangolins from the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China – the traditional medicine handbook for the industry
Investment in and promotion of herbal and synthetic alternatives
Combined and coordinated efforts by governments, NGOs and the traditional Asian medicine community to eliminate consumer demand for pangolin-based traditional Asian medicines, particularly in China and Vietnam
Support for alternative livelihoods, alleviation of poverty, and education programs within rural communities wherever pangolins are found globally, to stop the slaughter.

¹ Hunting for commercial gain in India is illegal, although hunting pangolins outside of protected areas for personal use is not necessarily illegal for certain native tribal communities. In this study, many of the hunters were from tribal groups.
² https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/cop/17/prop/060216/E-CoP17-Prop-08.pdf
³ the Chinese pangolin, Indian pangolin, Sunda pangolin and Philippine pangolin, which inhabit Asia, and the tree pangolin, long-tailed pangolin, giant pangolin and Temminck's ground pangolin, which occur in Africa.
⁴ https://www.iucn.org/news/species/201802/scaling-pangolin-conservation-never