The Pangolin Report

By Ava Hartman

Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines mentioned in the following story are fictional and based on true events extensively researched.

June 19th, 1996

8:46 am

Western Highlands of Cameroon

Snap! The pangolin steps onto a twig as it moves through the underbrush of the rainforest of Cameroon. This black-bellied pangolin, one of the four native species found in Africa, resembles an anteater covered in armor. The armor, composed of scales made of keratin, covers the entire length of the body. The mother carries her baby on her back as she slowly moves towards the nearest log full of ants for their next meal. A short rustling sound comes from behind, but the pangolin pays it no attention as the sound comes from far away. As the rustling begins to overwhelm the pangolin, the mother curls into a ball in order to protect her young— a common defense mechanism that only leaves her tough scales visible to protect her vulnerable baby and stomach which lacks the armor. However, the pangolin is unaware that her defense is hopeless against its latest predator, the human. The tough scales on the back of the mother may deter predators with claws, but the armor meant to protect the pangolin is actually the prize hunters value.

̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  Small Scale Trader  ̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶

June 19th, 1996

9:16 am

Western Highlands of Cameroon

A truck rumbles to life as Adamo Ropi, a wildlife trader, puts the keys into the ignition. Just a few moments ago one could hear the triumph in his partner’s voice, Valdeze Ruslan, as he shoved their latest catch into a bag. Ruslan adds the bulging sack to the rest piled high in the truck bed, covering them with a torn sheet so as to not raise suspicion. With their truck unable to hold another bag— Ropi decides that they have caught enough pangolins to make a profit that will keep both their families fed for a few weeks. Making their way out of the forest, Ropi drives towards an outdoor bushmeat market in Douala, the largest town in Cameroon.

10:02 am

Douala, Cameroon

Here, much to Ropi and Ruslan’s dismay, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature considers pangolins to have a vulnerable conservation status. Other traders have been spreading news about a new international ban on the commercial trade of pangolins, and Ropi remains thankful that even with the ban, many smuggling rings are undeterred. [i] Otherwise Ruslan and he would be out of a job. He has to remind himself that the whole reason that they uprooted their lives to move here was because the smuggling ring told them that Cameroon is one of the largest exporters of pangolin scales in the world, and they would make the most profit here.

The two men move through the crowded market looking out for interested shop owners. Despite the 20,000 seizures that have occurred in Cameroon over the past years, Ropi knows that corruption runs rampant in the smaller-scale law enforcement walking local markets.[ii] Traders like him take advantage of the disconnect between wildlife law enforcement who only focus on larger shipments and the smaller-scale officials who deal with corruption in their ranks and a lack of funds. The pair pass a few officials walking down the aisle, but with a quick exchange of cash, the authorities turn a blind eye and both parties move along. This is a common sight in the market along with the live and dead pangolins lining the stalls. Ropi and Ruslan approach stalls selling pangolins lying dead next to monkeys or hanging from their tails, but they also make trips to more affluent cities where pangolin is a common dish seen on any restaurant menu.

4:06 pm

Lagos, Nigeria

“How much?” the owner of a restaurant asks Ropi, clearly eyeing the live pangolins that both hunters carry. The owner is a short man with holes in his shoes, but Ropi knows that he pays well. The restaurant houses people chatting, laughing, and eating dishes with different bushmeats like porcupine, antelope, and pangolin.

“You know that your customers pay good money for these. $250. For the lot. Pay up, or we’ll move onto someone who will,” Ropi negotiates, knowing that the owner will offer more for the pangolin delicacy. He has never understood why people view eating the weird scaly mammal as a status symbol, but since it gives good business, he does not complain.

“This is extortion,” the shop owner grumbles. In contrast with his demeanor, he finally relents to buying a few of the mammals at the increased price level to keep his customers satisfied. Leaving the store, the two hunters exchanged concerned looks.

“Ever since pangolins have become scarcer in Asia, I’ve been worried about the same thing happening here. How are we supposed to provide for our families if we don’t have a job?” Ropi said to Ruslan.

“Don’t worry,” Ruslan consoles, “I heard that the lower numbers of pangolins in Asia is why we have business right now in Cameroon, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

9:52 pm

Port Harcourt, Nigeria

When the sun sinks, Ropi and Ruslan travel to a port where they receive their main source of income. They convene with the rest of their syndicate, about 8 men total, near the empty shipping containers in a dimly lit corner of the port. Each member has hundreds of pangolins that they have transported from Nigeria, Cameroon, or the Central African Republic. Their boss stands in front of the shipping containers and tells his men to separate the shipments based on their destination. After a few hours, one shipping container, packed with bloody bags amounting to 14 tons of pangolin scales, is worth almost $39 million.[iii] They mix the pangolin scales with fish scales, similar to other wildlife smuggling operations, in order to avoid detection.1 The traders label the second shipping container, full of frozen pangolin carcasses, “frozen fish.” While the smugglers tend to make a higher profit from live animals, trafficking dead animals or animal parts disguised as other animal products is more efficient and inconspicuous. Ropi knows that most pangolins do not survive in captivity regardless.

Ropi, Ruslan, and the other small-scale hunters each receive a large cut for their hauls when they sell their shipments to a larger criminal syndicate responsible for transporting the illicit goods. Ropi and Ruslan, along with their counterparts, live in rural communities that make it necessary for them to find some way to make money for their families. The two met in the syndicate, both forced to join under the threats of income poverty and unemployment. They make more money working for the syndicate compared to any other legal job they could have found, so they stay.

The smugglers from the larger syndicate deliver the shipment to the destination to ensure that they avoid detection. The shipments first leave Nigeria due to the minimal amount of wildlife law enforcement. Their route is similar to already existing smuggling routes for other wildlife products that go from Africa to Asia. As they get close to the border, the smugglers do not expect much trouble from law enforcement due to high amounts of corruption. As they approach the station, the officer steps out of his office and prepares to check their documents. However, when the men quietly, but forcefully, explain who they work for and hand the officer an envelope full of cash, he just laughs, signs off on the papers, and motions them through into the country. From here, the shipments only have China or Malaysia on their destination labels.

̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  A Larger Syndicate Organizer  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶

June 25th, 1996

2:45 am

Kyaukphyu, Myanmar

The shipment set for China arrives at a port in Myanmar, a dominant transit route to China since it borders the country on the southwest side. Kye Sein stands at the docks and shouts orders at the men. He ensures that all shipments reach their destination without any incidents. Most of the shipments that Sein encounters have China labeled as their destination— a common sight since China imports the most pangolin scales and body parts in the world. Most criminal syndicates work through Sein because of his familiarity with Myanmar. Aware of the harsher laws in Myanmar concerning the illegal trade of pangolins, Sein knows how to work around the law enforcement in the city— who to bribe, where officers are stationed, and when to move the shipments from city to city. Syndicates proceed carefully when transporting the illicit goods because the conviction of any smuggling or buying of pangolin scales and other body parts results in incarceration for three to ten years and a fine of over $600.[iv] Sein travels with the shipments through Mandalay to Ruili, a Chinese border town, to Kunming, a city in China. The hardest part of the journey entails making sure the shipments enter China without incident. Since China began to implement stricter laws concerning the trade of pangolins, border countries like Myanmar have experienced an increase in rigid security with harsher penalties. However, despite the appearance of strict laws, law enforcement tends to only catch small consumers compared to the larger syndicate bosses because of the corruption and vast network of wildlife criminal syndicates.

̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  A Chinese Traditionalist  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ 

July 13th,1996

11:42 am

Hong Kong, China

Yumiko Fan walks into a shop that has glass jars full of varying substances lining the entire length of the walls. She has gray hair and shows her years in her face. Yumiko frequents the shop often, a long-time believer of traditional Chinese medicine. Her parents habitually used pangolin scales that medicine men dried, ground into powder, and formed into pills to treat a variety of illnesses not limited to lactation, rheumatism, coronary heart disease, and even cancer.1 She pays $250 for a bottle of pills filled with powered pangolin scales, but to her, the medicinal treatment is a necessary purchase. This same scene plays out in countless medicinal shops over Asia and Africa due to the ubiquitous belief that pangolin scales have healing properties. With the scales a crucial part in over 60 different medicinal treatments, the demand continues to increase. Yumiko remembers when China removed pangolins from the official list of traditional Chinese medicines to protect the pangolin from the threat of extinction. She feared that the traditional Chinese medicine shops would close, but she has not seen Chinese law enforcement take much action to uphold their declaration.

  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶ ̶  The Captain of the Malaysian Police Force   ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ 

June 25th, 1996

2:00 am

Perak, Malaysia

At the same time the first shipment arrived in Myanmar, the second shipping container full of frozen pangolin carcasses arrived in Malaysia. The shipment sailed into the Malaysian inspection port around 2 am— a time chosen specifically because the docks are empty, and the syndicate can unload all of the shipments without raising suspicion. However, as the shipment pulled into the port, captain Mark Finley of the Malaysian police force, his unit, and a selection of wildlife law enforcement officers awaited the shipment set to come in that night. They had been tracking this smuggling ring for 15 months, and after receiving a tip about the shipment coming in from Nigeria, they meticulously set up a sting operation for tonight. Officials lined the docks ready to make a bust on the shipment containing illicit wildlife parts. To the boat crew, they just appeared as silhouettes belonging to the syndicate sent to unload the shipments.

“Go, go, go!” the captain’s voice crackled through each officer’s radio. The authorities ran out of the shadows and surrounded the shipment, their badges shining under the bright moon. The crew members on the boat paused unloading the containers as they watched the scene unfold in front of them. Finley held up a warrant to the boat captain who continued to yell profanities at him in Chinese. Giving the all-clear signal to the wildlife officers, the captain watched as they opened all of the shipments in hopes of finding the illicit goods.

“I found something!” an official yelled over the roaring waves. In a container labeled “frozen fish,” a little over 4,000 frozen pangolin carcasses spilled out over the docks. It was a sight to behold, the thousands of light pink bodies covered with blood pouring onto the docks. And the stench… Finley noticed his men turning away slightly from the ghastly sight but unable to fully stop looking as they positioned their guns towards the men who did this.

June 25th, 1996

9:00 am

Perak, Malaysia

“I want everyone to cover a different known trading route from Cameroon to Malaysia and see if we can figure out how these smugglers are transporting these pangolins,” Finley stated as the officials debriefed over the operation and discussed further steps needed. Due to the law enforcement lacking funds and numbers, they cannot directly regulate the vast and highly mobile network of pangolins that uses over 218 different international smuggling routes over the year.[v] As a result, after days of research, the wildlife officials informed Finley that they encountered a similar problem that they face often— despite the bust of the illicit goods, they have no leads on the criminal syndicates.

 ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶  ̶ ̶  The Executive Director of CITES  ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶ ̶  ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶ ̶ ̶  ̶  ̶  ̶ ̶

April 3th, 2004

9:02 am

Geneva, Switzerland

An article appears before Joan’s eyes as she sits at her desk researching wildlife trafficking. Joining CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, in 1995, Joan rose to the rank of executive director of the trade database where she regulates the trade of all endangered and vulnerable wildlife. She glances up to find her intern holding an article titled “Malaysian Authorities questioned over the largest bust of pangolins since 2017.”

“A huge sting operation occurred last night at a port in Malaysia,” her intern says, a little out of breath from running to Joan’s office, “Malaysia hasn’t reported anything to us about the bust yet.” Sighing, Joan pulls up the file compiling all the trade, import, and export data of all the species that CITES regulates.[vi] Opening the pangolin tab, Joan confirms that her intern is right. However, this discovery does not faze her since the database is not always accurate anyways. Due to the sheer volume of pangolins smuggled, the confusion concerning CITES permitted trade of wildlife, and the difficulty of acquiring seizure records, the database always seems to have a piece of crucial evidence missing.

“We can use this to our advantage,” Joan theorizes, “Through showing that these criminal syndicates have started using transnational smuggling routes more frequently.”

“And with extinction threatening all eight pangolin species!” her intern chimes in.

“Exactly” Joan replies, “We can update the inter- and trans-national laws that pertain to the illicit trade of pangolins since China still allows companies to use approximately 29 tons of pangolin scales a year.” She continues to explain to her intern that these scales come from stockpiles and licit pangolin trade which has decreased due to the overhunting; however, Chinese companies continue to produce the pangolin products at the same rate due to the illicit market filling the demand gap. She has spoken to many authorities who question how these companies keep up with demand despite the decreasing supply. Most agree that China, along with other Asian and African countries, aids black market activity. Even if the countries do not actively support wildlife black markets, with unclear laws and large unmet demand, the illicit wildlife market will continue to thrive. In order to combat the lack of international regulation on the wildlife trafficking, Joan begins to write her report that she hopes will shed light onto the horrific dealings of the pangolin trafficking black market, “Snap! The pangolin steps onto a twig…”

Bibliography

Denyer, Simon. “China’s push to export traditional medicine may doom the magical pangolin.” The Washington Post, July 21, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinas-push-to-export-traditional-medicine-may-doom-the-magical-pangolin/2018/07/20/8d8c52d4-7ef1-11e8-a63f-7b5d2aba7ac5_story.html

Froelich, Paula. “The adorable pangolin is the most-trafficked animal in the world.” New York Post, January 18, 2020, https://nypost.com/2020/01/18/the-adorable-pangolin-is-the-most-trafficked-animal-in-the-world/

“Pangolin poaching in Africa and trafficking to Asia.” IPP Media, Feb 28 2018, https://www.ippmedia.com/en/features/pangolin-poaching-africa-and-trafficking-asia

Sutter, John. “The most trafficked mammal you’ve never heard of.” CNN, 2013, https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/04/opinion/sutter-change-the-list-pangolin-trafficking/

Endnotes