Threatened With Extinction: Pangolins Are Hunted For Food, Their Scales Are Selling Well

JAKARTA - Conservationists in Liberia are determined to break the long-standing tradition of hunting for pangolins, which are vulnerable to extinction due to poaching.

Gripping a single-barreled rifle in fertile northern Liberia, Emmanuel said his 10 children were able to get an education thanks to his gun.

He regularly ignores bans on hunting wild animal meat, earning most of his money by catching pangolins and monkeys in the surrounding forest.

In the Dry Season, Emmanuel waits for dark and then climbs into the forest with his rifle and machete. Pangolins, scaly insectivorous mammals usually the size of an adult cat, are mostly nocturnal, inhaling dead wood in search of ants and termites.

The species is under threat worldwide, but remains a delicacy in the impoverished West African nation.

Their scales, made of keratin, like human nails, are also appreciated by consumers in Asia for their medicinal properties.

"We killed it, we ate it," said Emmanuel, in a village in Gbarpolu district, a five-hour drive north of the capital Monrovia along a potholed dirt road.

"Then the scales, we sell. There is no other choice," continued George.

A 2020 study by the United States Agency for International Development estimates that between 650,000 and 8.5 million pangolins were removed from the wild between 2009 and 2020.

It is known that pangolin populations are declining worldwide due to deforestation, consumption of wild animal meat and the trade in scales.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), seizures of pangolin scales have increased tenfold since 2014, indicating a booming global trade.

Pangolins are believed to be the most trafficked animals in the world, with Liberia being one of the main countries of origin. More than 40 percent of the country is covered in rainforest and governance is weak.

The country is also still recovering from the brutal civil war from 1989 to 2003, as well as from the 2014-16 Ebola crisis.

With warnings from conservationists, the Liberian Government banned the hunting of protected species without a permit in 2016, punishing them with up to six months in prison or a maximum fine of 4,500 euros ($5,000).

To note, this step will not be easy because the government is dealing with two forces, namely tradition and poverty, when trying to reduce the hunting of this vulnerable animal.