Have you ever heard of the pangolin – the armored, oddly cute mammal covered in thick scales that kind of looks like the adorable offspring of an anteater and an armadillo?
If you haven’t, it’s probably because they’re very endangered and thus rare to find in the wild. Not only are pangolins threatened by poachers (who are after their meat and skin) deforestation is destroying many of their natural habitats. They are also the most trafficked mammal in the world. All eight species of Pangolin are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Fortunately there are a lot of people working to protect pangolins and put an end to their illegal trade, including the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Indonesian Police.
Last Thursday, officers of the Indonesian Police and the WCS managed to dismantle a pangolin poaching operation being run out of a warehouse in Medan, North Sumatra. During the raid on the warehouse, they confiscated more than 3,400 kg of skinned pangolin meat, 70 kg of pangolin scales, and, thankfully, 96 live pangolins.
Irma Hermawati, legal advisor for the Wildlife Crime Unit of WCS, told Mongabay Indonesia, that information given to them by the public was crucial in finding out about the illicit activities going on at the warehouse.
“The condition of the pangolins was terrible. Those that were still alive were kept in small cramped cages. The ones that were already dead were skinned. Sadistic,” Irma said, as quoted by Mongabay.
Police are currently investigating the pangolin poachers and their connections to an international wildlife smuggling ring.
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