South African activists try to protect endangered pangolins 0 SHARES Share it! In South Africa, traffickers often sell the pangolin meat locally and ship the scales to Asia, where they are in demand for use in traditional medicine. 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 organization based in South Africa. Pangolin scales contain keratin, a protein also found in rhino horn and human fingernails.

Source: Manila Bulletin February 16, 2019 15:11 UTC