Illegal wildlife bust: 14 tons of pangolin seized

[WriteDown]

Source: AP

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Police raided the warehouse of a suspected illegal wildlife trader in western Indonesia, seizing 14 tons of endangered pangolin, their carcasses frozen and ready for export to China, conservationists said Wednesday.

Fourteen suspects were arrested, the wildlife monitoring network TRAFFIC said, describing the seizure as the largest-ever of the scaly, lizard-like animals in Indonesia.

"This is trans-border syndicate," the group quoted Didid Widjanardi, a senior national police officer, as saying. "The pangolins were packed and ready for export to China via seaports in Sumatra and Java" islands.

Having decimated the pangolin populations in Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and China itself, smugglers now seek the scaly mammal, a relative of anteaters, in Malaysia and Indonesia.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26052228/from/ET/

---

Once again it proving that the Chinese will eventually wipe out most of the animals and fish in the world.

[Muttocracy]

1. TONS?! There are some cultural differences w/ endangered spp. that I don't tolerate. nt

[WriteDown]

2. YES. TONS.

Asian culture places very little value on wildlife. It is especially a shame since so many interesting species live in that region.

[John Q. Citizen]

26. They place great value on possesion and use, but not so much on cohabitation.

Though it wasn't the Asians who extincted the passenger pigeons or the bison, etc.

For you to pick on Asian Culture in particular seems silly and shallow.

Let's face it, humans can do some really fucked up shit. Even Asians. And even your mother, probably.

Sorry if this annoys you, but I go for ethnocentrism about as much as I go for trading in endangered species. Both choices are stupid and short sighted. Even if you are or aren't Asian.

Tom Robbins wrote, "There are two kinds of people in this world; One kind thinks there are two kinds of people in this world. The rest of us know better."

[WriteDown]

27. Chinese culture has been around for 1000's of years...

The U.S. a little over 200. Most of us recognize that the extermination of the carrier pigeon (bison are not extinct and actually making a comeback) was a travesty and are trying to learn from our mistakes. The Chinese don't seem to have grown up yet. They use pangolin meat to fortify mother's milk. Think about that for a second.

[jmowreader]

33. That would be "passenger pigeon"

We have lots of carrier pigeons; passenger pigeons are extinct.

Oh yeah, have you seen this? http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149 RFC 1149: Internet Protocol over Avian Carriers--a method of transmitting IP packets via carrier pigeon.

[roguevalley]

30. I hope they find out that using bear bile and the like actually SHORTENS

the fuckers lives.

[elehhhhna]

3. Poor things. Would YOU eat this?

[WriteDown]

4. Makes you wonder

How anyone could eat something like that. I'm sure it is considered a fertility booster and an aphrodesiac just like everything else exotic in Chinese culture. Looks like the picture of innocence.

[elehhhhna]

5. I guess they make really ugly coats from their "pelts" (scales?)

gotta look into gettin me some armadillo outfits. tres chic!

[The Croquist]

10. I'm impressed that it's a mammal

It sure looks like a reptile to me.

Am I the only stupid one here or did other people never hear of this species before too?

[Lorien]

15. They were popular pets in Asia for a while

but I guess that some fool did what always gets done to endangered species; called it an "aphrodisiac". Why they don't just smuggle boatload of viagra over there I'll never know.

[elehhhhna]

21. me, never.

[valerief]

6. It looks like I already did. nt

[DCKit]

14. No way! That's cuter 'n a hedgehog. n/t

[dysfunctional press]

28. that depends on how it tastes and what kind of side dishes it comes with.

probably tastes like chicken.

[Doremus]

7. I simply don't get it. Aphrodesiac? Are the Chinese so insecure about their verility

that they eat any kind of exotic animal life trying to get an artificial boost?

Sad, bizarre, and a dirty shame there's such a deep market for these and all other defenseless creatures.

[WriteDown]

8. That is pretty much what I would chalk it up to....

but who knows. Whats sad is that it doesn't look like its going to change.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

36. no, but they do have a large uneducated population.

[mikelgb]

9. Ick

[Hugin]

11. I heard there's 125,000 extra Western Gorillas running around in the Congo...

Ripe pickings for the Gorilla Hand Ash Tray Market. :eyes:

[Delphinus]

16. What concerns me with this finding,

is they will now be taken off the endangered species list and, as you say, become ripe for the picking. :(

[Hugin]

19. Yep... I thought that exact thing when I saw it carried in the MSM so widely.

Too bad they only breed once every 5 years.

:concern:

[Wilber_Stool]

12. From Wiki

Click here.

Pangolin are hunted and eaten in many parts of Africa and it is one of the more popular types of bush meat. Pangolins are also in great demand in China because their meat is considered a delicacy and some Chinese believe pangolin scales reduce swelling, promote blood circulation and help breast-feeding women produce milk. This, coupled with deforestation, has led to a large decrease in the numbers of Giant Pangolins.

[WriteDown]

18. Chinese medicine has gotten ridiculous

We've gone from the miraculous benefits of acupuncture to this tripe? I guess a giant uneducated population will believe anything.

[Lorien]

13. The insanity, greed and staggering ignorance of much of our species

seems to be unmatched in the natural world. These smugglers and their buyers are utterly vile, pathetic excuses for human beings.

[KamaAina]

17. Couldn't they be domesticated and farm-raised?

They are mammals, after all. :shrug:

[The Stranger]

20. God damn that is an extraordinary amount of carcases for an animal facing extinction.

[sakura]

56. The reason they're facing extinction is because of the huge number of carcasses.

Until fairly recently pangolin could be traded-- restrictions were set to keep the population at a sustainable level. Pangolin could be imported or exported with permits. However, demand is so high in China, that these restrictions have been ignored. The result is that if trade continues at the current level (as well as continued deforestation) the population WILL go extinct. So since, the year 2000, trade in pangolins has been illegal.

Think of it this way-- if half of the fish in the sea were caught every year for 10 years, and fish didn't sexually mature for 2 years (like pangolin), how long would it take for there to be no fish left?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. What monsters we are!

:cry:

[Politicalboi]

23. They kill sharks

Just for their fins and throw them overboard when they cut them off.

[kwolf68]

32. Japanese do that

I didnt know China did, but Japan does...the butcher whales and dolphins as well, comparing it to a cow in West Texas.

Oh yea, China has slaughtered the Tiger population because they think tiger bones cure impotence. And now American black bear kidneys or intenstines or something are thought to cure some bullshit disease in China as well...

Im confused by this all...they haven't found ANY disease that can be cured with a human penis?

[Maestro]

24. I'm speechless.

:shrug:

[BreweryYardRat]

25. Such charming people.

Anyone know how much money it costs over there to rent a warehouse that could hold 14 tons of frozen meat? I'm trying to figure out if this is a case of poor people trying to feed their families (still reprehensible, but more understandable) or greedy bastards trying to get richer (which is what the article suggests.)

[sofa king]

29. That's awful.

You know, offering the Chinese cheap Viagra may be the key to saving the world's endangered species. Seems there is nothing they won't eat to get a woodie.

[Toucano]

31. Beijing Science and Technology Daily described how to cook a pangolin

"We keep them alive in cages until the customer makes an order. Then we hammer them unconscious, cut their throats and drain the blood. It is a slow death. We then boil them to remove the scales. We cut the meat into small pieces and use it to make a number of dishes, including braised meat and soup. Usually the customers take the blood home with them afterwards"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/may/26/china.conservation

[Blue_Tires]

34. the population was 'decimated'?

for my first time ever on DU, i get to be a "proper word usage" nazi...

"Decimate" means literally to reduce by one-tenth...The reporter probably should have said the population was 'wiped out' or something...

[La Lioness Priyanka]

35. china will wipe out? really, was it the chinese who wore all the fur?

the chinese who killed bengal tigers for sport?

what bullshit

[WriteDown]

37. Uh....

Once again, Chinese culture has been around 1000's of years. The U.S.? About 200. 99.9% of the U.S. populace has learned from the mistakes of the past. What is China's excuse?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

38. a larger, poorer uneducated population. nt

[WriteDown]

39. Then that makes it okay

Thanks. :sarcasm:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

44. maybe a global war on povery and literacy would help or access to western medicine

but go ahead and be racist that surely helps.

[WriteDown]

46. So give more money to China?

Seems like we are giving them everything right now. Also, I am not sure how many poor Chinese can afford rare pangolin. Who do you think is actually buying this stuff? Pointing out things like eating rare animals and female circumcision are wrong is not racist. Love when people throw labels around though :sarcasm:.

edited for one mistyped letter .

[La Lioness Priyanka]

48. there are ways to approach ignorance. some are racist. some are not.

[WriteDown]

50. ooookay. n/t

[sudopod]

53. "44. maybe a global war on povery and literacy would help or access to western medicine"

This.

[IndianaJones]

40. either the Chinese or the Africans, huh? The more advanced Europeans would never do that. nt.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

41. no. despite the fact that we disproportionately cause global warming

which will really be the end for a lot more animals

[IndianaJones]

42. yeah, but those other people eat weird stuff. nt.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

true. nt

[WriteDown]

43. I am not a devout global warming guy....

but my friends the reptiles will be just fine :).

[La Lioness Priyanka]

47. what do you mean a devout global warming guy? its not a religion. its a fact

it doesnt require faith to become its devotee

[WriteDown]

49. I am not completely signed on to the science...

Anything that is not an absolute certainty requires faith or hope.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

51. ofcourse you aren't. maybe this is the type of thinking that prevents the chinese from signing

on to Viagra.

[WriteDown]

52. Yeah, that must be it

:eyes:

[sudopod]

54. PROTIP

There is nothing in science that is an absolute certainty.

[WriteDown]

55. Fairly certain...

The speed of light will not change. :).

[4dsc]

45. Fuck the Chinese bastard!!

EOM..

[nc4bo]

57. Troubling....but what I don't understand is...

IF these countries insist on eating/trading or (insert activity here) endangered species for food or medicine, why in the hell don't they raise them on farms??

There are fur farms, camel farms, shrimp farms, fish farms, ostrich farms, etc.

Stop destroying the ecosystems. Leave the wild things alone.