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Boat Filled With 22,000 Pounds Of Pangolin Hits Endangered Coral Reef

Boat Filled With 22,000 Pounds Of Pangolin Hits Endangered Coral Reef

It happened last Monday, April 8.

First, a Chinese steel-hulled boat ran into a highly endangered coral reef in the southwestern Philippines. The accident happened at the Tubbataha National Marine Park, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site on Palawan island.

But the environmental destruction gets worse.

Inside the vessel the coast guard investigators found more than 22,000 pounds of meat from the pangolin, or scaly anteater, which is a protected species. The Chinese pangolin is highly prized for its meat, and is also hunted for its skin and scales, which attract high prices both in China and in international markets.

As Care2′s Kristina Chew reported here, in most countries pangolins caught in the wild cannot be exported for commercial trade. So what were they doing on the F/N Min Long Yu?

It’s difficult to patrol the forests where pangolins live, so hunters can get away with trapping them and not being caught. In fact, pangolins are so threatened that their numbers have decreased significantly over the past 15 years and are expected to continue to do so by another 50 percent.

For that reason, the Chinese pangolin is on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, but of course that doesn’t stop people stealing them. The animals are protected in many Asian nations, and an international ban on their trade has been in effect since 2002, but illicit trade continues. The meat and scales of the pangolin fetch hundreds of dollars per kilogram in China, where many believe they cure various ailments.

From The Associated Press:

The World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines said the Chinese vessel F/N Min Long Yu could have been carrying up to 2,000 of the toothless, insect-eating animals rolled up in the boxes, with their scales already removed.

“It is bad enough that the Chinese have illegally entered our seas, navigated without boat papers and crashed recklessly into a national marine park and World Heritage Site,” said WWF-Philippines chief executive officer Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan. “It is simply deplorable that they appear to be posing as fishermen to trade in illegal wildlife.”

The boat’s 12 Chinese crewmen are being detained on charges of poaching and attempted bribery, said Adelina Villena, the marine park’s lawyer. She said more charges are being prepared against them, including damaging the corals and violating the country’s wildlife law for being found in possession of the pangolin meat.

According to the Philippine military, the fishermen said they accidentally wandered into Philippine waters from Malaysia. They are being detained in southwest Puerto Princesa city, where Chinese consular officials visited them, and they face up to 12 years’ imprisonment and fines of up to $300,000 for the poaching charge alone.

For possession of the pangolin meat, they can be imprisoned up to six years and fined.

Care2 has reported extensively on the global illegal trade in wildlife, which is estimated to yield at least $19 billion per year.

Illegal wildlife trade includes illegal logging of protected forests, the illegal fishing of endangered marine life for food and the poaching of elephants to supply the demand for ivory.

Illegal wildlife trade is also often unsustainable and pushes endangered species toward extinction. The story of the world’s rhinoceros species, which are facing increased poaching as demand for their horns increases in Asia, is truly tragic.

And now we hear of this double environmental disaster, once again driven by the all-powerful need to make money at all costs.

 

Related Care2 Coverage

5 Endangered Species (Besides The Panda) In China

28 Endangered Elephants Killed By Poachers

Five Tons Of Illegal Bushmeat Smuggled In Every Week

 

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Photo Credit: string_bass_dave

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139 comments

+ add your own
3:44AM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

If it were up to me, the poachers would be executed on the spot. The arrogance of those who think they have the right to destroy any animal species on earth for their own greed or stupidity is astounding.

2:56AM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

sad

2:34AM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

Please would Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese/Cambodian/Laos speaking conservationists step up their messages on Renren and Sina Weibo, etc and initiate petitions to debunk the animal medicine myths. Pressure from inside is much more effective than pressure from outside.

2:28AM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

Horrible. Agree with Magdelen that the crew aren't the ones making money

2:27AM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

Grrrr :(

2:14AM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

horrific!

all i can say is that thankfully they were stupid enough to crash into this protected coral reef & get caught.. i hope the damage they caused is only little compared to the sentences that will be passed against them! Idiots!

12:54AM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

I would bet that the crew of this ship are not the ones making money out of it.
@ the woman who wants to "nuke" China. (sigh) You'd destroy ALL the animals, dear (and possibly start World War 111)

12:47AM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

awful news :(

12:44AM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

We can only stop this needless and obscene horror if we Yell Loud enough!

10:54PM PDT on Apr 17, 2013

STOP KILLING EVERYTHING!

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