FAST FACTS
Pangolin scales are used for traditional medicine, charms and bush meat.
They are classified as vulnerable due to their diminishing numbers as a result of falling pray to the illegal wildlife trade.
Pangolins play a crucial ecological role with their foraging behaviour in the Kalahari and other areas.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), more than 1 million pangolins were trafficked over a 10-year period, with 2019 data indicating a pangolin is poached every three minutes. In June 2020, China increased protection for the native Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) to the highest level, which dosed an important loophole for consumption of thes species in-country.
Additionally, the government will no longer allow the use of pangolin scales in traditional medicine, a big win given that an estimated 195 000 were trafficked in 2019 for their scales alone (Challender, et al, 2020).
Tswalu-based University of the Witwatersrand Master's candidate Daniel Rossouw tells that the pangolin's
