Scales: A protection that threatens with extinction

The third Saturday of February, every year, is celebrated as World Pangolin Day. Why? To raise awareness regarding an elusive, fascinating mammal: the Pangolin.

Why do we celebrate a day for Pangolins?

Reading any article with the keyword “Pangolin” ?will lead you to articles, research papers, and news of Pangolin being the most trafficked animal within the whole wide world.

The irony is that the Pangolin is so elusive and solitary, that a significant part of the human population is ignorant towards its existence. While another significant part of the human population is hell bent on pushing the mammal towards its extinction.

Why are Pangolins poached?

The attractiveness of this mammal does not stop at its unique looks. The scaly nature, and elusive behaviour adds to the barbaric desire of certain groups of population to poach pangolins.

They are essentially traded for their use in Traditional East Asian Medicines (TEAM), or Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). India has become an integral route for transporting scales, meat, as well as live pangolins in large quantities to the demanding nations.?

There have been some major seizures of illegally harvested scales, and captive pangolins from North Eastern India, as well as from the regions of Western Ghats.

Pangolin meat is considered a highly prestigious delicacy in certain communities within India as well as China. Apart from consumption as food, the scales are believed to cure or soothe certain illnesses as well as body aches.

There is no end to superstition, and as long as the superstitions thrive, the pangolins will find their way into the nasty illegal trade business.

Modern World, Modern techniques

As the world has entered a new digital era, the ease of access has increased. In the virtual world, where creators and influencers use various tactics to keep their viewership entertained and informed, traffickers are misusing the means.

Videos and? photographs of animals being tortured or advertised are increasingly becoming rampant over social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, as well as Instagram. More astonishing is the fact that there are inquiries for such animals in the comments section.

Hashtags are the tools that content creators and influencers use to reach a wider audience, and make their reach more target oriented. The same tool has been exploited by illegal wildlife traffickers to reach their targeted audience.

What might be a newly threatening outcome for such easy availability is the possibility of generating new demands, giving rise to increased traffickers.

The Final Say

While pangolins are lucrative mammals, their populations are declining alarmingly, while their sales are increasing at a similar rate. In such scenarios, there awareness and sensitisation of people to preserve our wild heritage becomes utmost important.

Keeping an eye on what we are scrolling through, and their consequences on our natural world is a practice that might aid National and International organisations in efficiently tracking the traffickers.

More often than not, reporting the photo, video, reel, shorts, or any social media post just ends up reviewed, and blocked. Sometimes such malicious posts go unnoticed as the platform decides that the content is not necessarily against their community guidelines. This results in a confident traffickers base.

Moreover, it is easy to make numerous accounts, disguised or impersonating others. Due to the crime control organisations gaining on traffickers’ tactics, they have stopped using hashtags.

Within the maze of social media posts and hashtags, it becomes difficult to track such sales, and control the trade.

All the more reason for spreading awareness among the content consumers.

Pangolins are solitary, slow animals with a lot to struggle within their lifespans. Let us be a little more compassionate, and do even the least that we can.