The Pangolin Conservation Guild Nigeria (PCGN), has sought the support of all Nigerians in its effort to tame the illegal pangolin trade in the country, noting that it’s a collective responsibility of all citizens.
The chairperson of PCGN, Olajumoke Morenikeji, who is also the regional chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), made this call in Ibadan, Oyo State, at a symposium organized by PCGN as a follow up program for the 2023 World Pangolin Day.
The pangolin trade involves illegal poaching and trafficing, because of their scales, which are used to treat a variety of health conditions in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and also serve as a luxury food in Vietnam and China. While in Africa, it is sold as a form of bush meat, for ritual or spiritual purposes, and also used to make a traditional African medicine.
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Morenikeji noted that Nigeria is both a source and transit country for poachers that have been directed to Africa to supply tons of pangolins to the Asian market, causing unsustainable levels of poaching and illegal trade and thereby driving pangolins to the brink of extinction.
She also pointed out that pangolin is the most illegally traded mammal in the world because of the increasing demand for their meat, which is eaten as a luxury dish in some parts of the world. Their scales and other parts of their body are used in many traditional medicines.
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According to her, PCGN is a group of conservation experts from the broad disciplines of zoology, animal science, veterinary medicine, and other affiliated specialties that are involved in the conservation of pangolins through scientific research and the creation of awareness of the need for their conservation at local, national, and international levels.
