Poor pangolin is being butchered in the name of male virility
As we get older we humans are capable of all manner of selfdeception. We go under the knife in the hope of looking younger. We take pills and potions of dubious efficacity. But in the annals of human folly there is surely nothing more delusional than the belief still prevalent in large parts of Asia that a man can somehow rectify his waning virility by grinding and eating the scales of a pangolin.
And yet that is what they do. The tragedy is that all eight species of pangolin are now endangered, two critically. We are losing them to poachers at a rate of 100,000 a year. They are smuggled, butchered and cooked – all for the sake of their mythical medicinal qualities.
Millions in the Far East are still brought up to believe that this creature is a walking pharmacopoeia – not only natural Viagra but just the job for kidney disease, skin complaints and promoting lactation. The result: fully 20 per cent of all the world’s illegal wildlife trade – which itself drives so much other crime – involves the pangolin.
You don’t know what a pangolin is? You would not recognise one even if it licked you with its prehensile tongue? Well, you share that position with 92 per cent of Britons and perhaps that is why this animal’s plight is so sad. Today, however, is World Pangolin Day – so pay attention.
As a looker the pangolin cannot be ranked with lions, tigers, elephants, rhinos and other charismatic megafauna whose fast diminishing numbers are rightly the cause of public outrage. And yet it is a miracle of evolution. It is a scaly anteater about the size of a cat, covered like some dinosaur with astonishing keratin scales whose rigidity has proved so disastrously suggestive to the imagination of the quacks. Occasionally it climbs trees.
By a trick of biomechanics the roots of its tongue are attached to its pelvis – presumably for extra whip and traction in picking up ants. Even though it can emit a skunk-like odour when stressed, Sir David Attenborough has testified that the pangolin is among the most endearing beasts he had ever handled.
We cannot let this cretinous slaughter continue. We must save the pangolin. This week I was proud to see the UK Border Force helping the Royal Thai Customs detect smuggled pangolins and put traffickers behind bars. Those criminals deserve their sentences. You cannot farm pangolins and they do not survive well in zoos. The only way to get their precious scales is to catch them in the wild, and alas the pangolin’s only method of self-defence is to roll up in a ball – perfect for popping in a poacher’s bag.
They need better protection. Which is why the UK is working with partners to save the pangolin, and why we are hosting this October in London a global conference on tackling illegal wildlife trade. Since 1970 the world has lost 58 per cent of its mammals, reptiles, birds and fish. We cannot let it go on. You may never have heard of a pangolin. But do you want to deprive your children and grandchildren of the chance of discovering it for themselves?