The growing pangolin trafficking industry has prompted plans in South Africa for a rehabilitation centre for sick or rescued animals as well as the deployment of sniffer dogs specially trained to detect the scales’ pungent aroma.
Conservationists say well over one million pangolins have been poached since around 2000; the various kinds range from vulnerable to critically endangered on a list of threatened species.
Pangolin scales contain keratin, a protein also found in rhino horn and human fingernails.
There is no scientific proof that they provide any medicinal value.
Traffickers often sell the pangolin meat locally and ship the scales for use in traditional medicine in Asia, mainly China.
Africa’s four species of pangolins are under increasing pressure from poachers because Asia’s four species have been decimated, according to experts.
While commercial trade in all eight species is forbidden, international confiscations of African pangolin scales amounted to about 47 tons in 2017, more than double the quantity seized in the previous year, said the African Pangolin Working Group, a conservation organisation based in South Africa.
“The rate of escalation is astounding,” said Eric Ichikowitz, director of South African-based Ichikowitz Family Foundation.
The foundation, which has previously trained dogs to detect rhino horn, has funded the training of several dogs that will check for hidden pangolin scales at South African borders, Mr Ichikowitz said.
It has also acquired land near Johannesburg for the construction of a “pangalorium” – a research and medical centre for one of the world’s most heavily trafficked mammals.
About 10 rescued pangolins have been treated at the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital since last year.
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