Pangolins are one of the most trafficked animals in the world, despite their protected status under international laws, and now there are Pangolin trading that is taking place on Facebook for everyone to see and participate in.
Illegal trading of an endangered species
A new report from the Tech Transparency Project, a tech watchdog group, details how Facebook users are engaging in the illegal sale of trafficked pangolin parts, even though the practice is prohibited and deemed illegal by Facebook itself.
A public page of Facebook called "Pangolin Scales for Sale in Vietnam" advertised the sale of pangolin products and the page is asking potential buyers to send a private message to the seller through email or WhatsApp.
Another public page on Facebook named "Rhino Horns And Pangolin scales For sale In China," was created in March and the page directed customers to embrace their business like never before. The page was created in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
There are also other pages that offered the sale of pangolin oils. Most of the sites were hiding in plain sight, and they can be easily found by using basic search terms like the phrase "pangolins for sale" in English or the word for "pangolin" in Vietnamese.
Facebook itself has rules that prohibit the sale of live animals as well as anything that encourages, promotes, or even coordinates the poaching of endangered species and their parts. Facebook joined an anti-wildlife-trafficking coalition in March of 2018, but since that date reports have detailed the ongoing sales of everything from hornbill parts to tiger teeth through direct sales and ads facilitated by Facebook.
Pangolins and other wild animals are in the spotlight right now as the scientific community is searching for answers about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. According to scientists, wild animals carry coronaviruses and it can transfer to humans and make them ill. It is said to the reason behind the 2002 SARS outbreak and the current coronavirus pandemic that allegedly originated from bats.
New research shows that pangolins carry coronaviruses that are related to the one that caused COVID-19. Most scientists believe that the coronavirus originated in bats, but how the virus spread rapidly from bats to humans still remains a mystery.
What are pangolins used for?
Pangolins are believed to be the world's most trafficked non-human mammal. Tens of thousands of pangolins are poached every year, and they are killed for their scales that are used in traditional Chinese medicine. They are also killed for their meat which is a delicacy among wealthy people in China and Vietnam.
The scales of pangolin are made of keratin, which is the same material that makes up hair, fingernails, and horn.
Pangolin scales have no proven medicinal value, yet they are used in traditional Chinese medicine to help with ailments such as lactation to arthritis. The scales of pangolin are dried and grounded into powder and turned into a pill.
For years, pangolins found in Asia were the target of poachers and traffickers. But now that their numbers have depleted, smugglers are turning to African pangolins.
In April 2019, Singapore seized a 14.2-ton shipment and a 14-ton shipment of pangolin scales, from an estimated 72,000 pangolins, coming from Nigeria.
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