Environment
War on Pangolin Crime campaign launched
  • | Nhan Dan | January 14, 2016 09:07 AM
The War on Pangolin Crime campaign has been launched by the Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV) as an urgent response to protect the species from massive and unabated exploitation to meet demand from consumers in Vietnam and China.

Seven pangolins confiscated from a smuggling in central Nghe An province, November 11, 2015.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, pangolins are the most poached and trafficked animal on earth, with an estimated one million being illegally traded in the last ten years. The trade is driven primarily by Vietnam and China, who are considered the two most critical links in the transnational chain of illegal pangolin traders.

In October 2015, customs officials in Guangdong, China, seized 11.5 tonnes of pangolin carcasses, the largest seizure of pangolins in the past five years. Over the last five months alone, there have been at least seven tonnes of pangolin scales confiscated at ports in Vietnam, in addition to 16 cases, documented by ENV, involving close to a tonne of live pangolins seized from smugglers. Furthermore, these recent seizures have revealed a large and growing international trade in African pangolins, poached to satisfy demand in Asia.

According to ENV Executive Director Vu Thi Quyen, by declaring war on pangolin crime, ENV commits to a concerted effort, in partnership with the government and the public, to protect pangolins, approaching the point in time where Vietnam no longer plays a role in the illegal trade of pangolins, either as consumer or accomplice.

The ENV’s campaign encompasses several critical components, including calling upon local authorities to take aggressive action in addressing pangolin crime at the consumer level by strictly enforcing the laws prohibiting the advertising or sale of pangolins or their parts and derivatives in consumer establishments like restaurants, bars, and traditional medicine shops.

ENV will exercise a ‘zero tolerance’ policy, whereby compliance is secured from each and every business for which violations have been reported.

The organisation is launching a sustained campaign to mobilise public support through the media, social networking, and its national Wildlife Protection Network of Volunteers to report pangolin crimes and help educate consumers.

It also aims to call upon law enforcement, prosecutors, and the courts to vigorously pursue and punish criminals engaged in the trafficking of pangolins and successfully dismantle organised criminal networks that traffic pangolins into or through Vietnam. It suggests provincial governments prevent and prohibit any auctioning of pangolins back into the trade following seizures, as the practice is both in conflict with the law and is directly supporting the illegal trafficking and trade of pangolins

ENV’s efforts to combat pangolin crimes were first initiated in 2005 with the establishment of ENV’s Wildlife Crime Unit, and in 2016, Quyen emphasised the need for broader public and government support to reduce and terminate Vietnam’s role as villains in the trafficking and trade of pangolins.

Call for public action! Four things can stop pangolin crime:

1. Report pangolin crimes immediately to local authorities or to the ENV Wildlife Crime Hotline 1800-1522. Each report to ENV will be pursued aggressively to conclusion with the aim of eliminating all violations that are reported.

2. Take action in the community by making sure businesses near home, work, or school are not violating the law. Check restaurants to ensure that they are not offering pangolins on their menus or serving pangolin wine. Check traditional medicine shops to ensure that pangolin scales are not being offered or sold. Report any violations observed to ENV.

3. Urge friends, family, and colleagues to get involved. Spread the word widely through social networks and other means: “Stop pangolin crime now by reporting violations to ENV and saying ‘NO’ to the consumption of pangolins."
4. Report traffickers. If you have information about illegal traders and traffickers engaged in the smuggling of pangolins, please inform local authorities or contact the ENV Wildlife Crime Unit on confidential toll-free hotline 1800-1522. ENV will assist in providing timely information to the appropriate law enforcement agency and track the case through to conclusion, keeping you informed of any results.

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