BAD news from South East Asia is that TRAFFIC (Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce) officials operating in Laos have found 2,800 scales of the endangered pangolin and 74 bills of the critically endangered Helmeted hornbill in local markets.
Pangolin scales are used in Chinese traditional medicine and in the jewelry trade and the bills of the Helmeted hornbill are carved, like ivory, into fashionable jewellery.
TRAFFIC said that the pangolin is probably the most traded animal worldwide.
Laos has become a regional hub in the illegal wildlife trade as it borders China, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
The status of the African pangolin is not easy to ascertain, although it has been declared critically endangered.
I remember years ago reporting on the launch of a project to study the pangolin in the Lowveld.
The specialist in question spent months crawling around on his hands and knees at night in search of his research subject, but eventually had to give up the project because he couldn’t find a pangolin to study.
All species of pangolin worldwide are on the CITES Schedule One, giving them most protected status.
As if elephants didn’t have enough problems with being poached for their ivory, they are now being killed for their hide.
It’s reported that this new wave of poaching has emerged in Burma, where elephants are being killed and skinned and the dried hides sold across the border to China.
Apparently the hide is used in traditional Chinese medicine, but it is also made into beads which are claimed to protect the wearer from ill health.*
One has to wonder if anything is safe from Chinese traditional medicine.
And some good news, modern technology in the form of 3D printing has saved a tortoise in Brazil which had lost 85 percent of its shell in a fire.
The tortoise, found in a Brazilian jungle, was not expected to survive, but a group in the United States called Animal Avengers stepped in, having had experience in using 3D printing to build artificial beaks for birds.
They designed a new shell for the tortoise, printed it, hand-painted it and fitted it to the tortoise, which is reported to be doing well.**
More positive news comes from South Georgia, the British possession in the far South Atlantic (remember the Falklands?) – rare birds are beginning to return to the island after the biggest and most successful rat eradication campaign ever.
Two hundred years ago British seal hunters accidentally brought rats to the island and the rats did what rats do, they multiplied and fed off the eggs and chicks of the many birds nesting on the island.
Well, the rats are gone and the birds are coming back, including the wandering albatross and the South Georgia pipit.
By the way, the rats were wiped out by poisoned bait dropped from helicopters, a bit extreme in some circumstances perhaps, but it worked here.**
*Save the Elephants News Service.
**The Week: The Best of the British and Foreign Media.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
For news straight to your phone, add us on BBM 58F3D7A7 or WhatsApp 082 421 6033
