Economy of Scales
The pangolin is on the poachers’ radar, a result of the huge Chinese demand for its scales, used as aphrodisiac and in traditional medicine
For a little over a year now, wildlife sleuths in Madhya Pradesh have noticed that the chatter in the poaching world revolves around an innocuous animal whose conservation numbers no one really saw earlier as a cause for concern. But the male obsession with aphrodisiacs and applications in traditional Chinese and Tibetan medicine have ensured that the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata), a largely nocturnal mammal that measures 3-5 feet and weighs 8-12 kg, lies firmly in the crosshairs of poachers in the central Indian state.
The August 2015 arrest of Laltlen Kunga, a middleman in the pangolin trade, from Kolasib in Mizoram was when the enormity of the trade first came to light. Subsequently, Amir Husain Laskar, another middleman, was arrested from Silchar in Assam. Laskar has since jumped bail. Kunga’s sustained interrogation helped wildlife wing detectives zero in on two more smugglers from across the border in Myanmar. A waiting game between the smugglers and sleuths led to a meeting with decoy traders in Aizawl. When wildlife wing detectives from MP went to Aizawl, they were surprised to find that the head of the poaching syndicate was a woman—Lua Goddin, from Myanmar. She is presently in jail in Balaghat in eastern MP, and has proved to be a mine of information. Apparently, poaching syndicates have rented out houses along the India-Myanmar border and a large part of the animal merchandise from India reaches Mong La market—a large drug and contraband market in Myanmar, from where it is distributed to other countries in Southeast Asia.
A 2015 Interpol report terms the pangolin the most smuggled and traded mammal in the world. Besides India, Africa is another centre for pangolin poaching, with seizures reported on a regular basis. There are no estimates of pangolin numbers with the MP forest department though it is an endangered animal, which features on the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red list of animals threatened with extinction.
So why is this animal under siege? “Rhino poaching has been controlled to a large extent in India in the past few years,” says a wildlife sleuth on condition of anonymity. “Pangolin scales and rhino horn are chemically the same—both are rich in keratin—and have the same applications in traditional Chinese and Tibetan medicine. When poachers
THE POACHER WHO DOES THE KILLING GETS ABOUT Rs 4,000 A KG FOR THE SCALES. BY THE TIME THE CONTRABAND CROSSES THE BORDER, IT HAS BEEN THROUGH 8-10 MIDDLEMEN AND COSTS Rs ABOUT 80,000 A KG IN NOVEMBER 2015, CUSTOMS OFFICIALS IN SOUTHERN GUANGDONG PROVINCE, CHINA, SEIZED THEIR BIGGEST HAUL— A FISHING BOAT WITH 2,674
DEAD PANGOLINS
found it difficult to get to the rhino, the pangolin emerged as an easier alternative.” The animal’s scales are crushed to make medicines, besides being used as an embellishment in fancy coats, bags etc. The medicine prepared from the scales is used as an aphrodisiac and purportedly even to treat cancer.
There are eight species of pangolin in the world, of which two are found in India. The Chinese pangolin is found in the northeast and the Indian one in the rest of the country. The pangolin is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and accorded the highest level of protection. Those found poaching or trading in its parts are liable to be jailed for seven years and fined Rs 10,000.
But that hasn’t been much of a hindrance. Seven major cases of pangolin poaching came to light in MP in the past two years. Two seizures—in Balaghat in September 2014 and in Chhindwara in April 2015—were so serious that the forest department set up a special task force (STF) to check the poaching. Since then, five more major seizures have taken place across the state—in Gwalior, Hoshangabad and in Seoni—and a total of 97 people have been booked, of which 10 are still absconding. An estimated 90 kg of pangolin scales were recovered in these raids. Last summer, in the Satpura Tiger Reserve in Hoshangabad district, pangolin poachers also confessed to killing a tiger. The skin was recovered from a baba in Chhindwara, but by the time the syndicate was uncovered, the pangolin consignment had already crossed over to China.
It’s not as if pangolins are not protected wildlife there. China’s laws specify heavy fines and jail time for smuggling (not less than five years and fines the equivalent of Rs 10-20 lakh. For trades of higher value, it could be life imprisonment or even the death penalty). But enforcement is an issue. In November 2015, customs authorities in southern Guangdong province seized the biggest haul in five years, intercepting a fishing boat carrying 2,674 dead pangolins.
Much of the smuggling into China