China has granted reprieve to the world’s most trafficked nonhuman mammal – the pangolin. In the country’s latest version of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, the national compendium of drugs which cover both traditional Chinese and modern medicines, pangolin scales have been removed for the first time in decades. The scales had previously been sold as an ingredient in legally allowed medication, said to have curative properties for a host of ailments and diseases.

The excessive and unwarranted demand of the keratin rich scales, have led the pangolin towards the path of extinction. These animals are also captured and killed for their meat, said to be a gastronomic delicacy in several parts of Asia.

The revelation that pangolin scales are no longer listed on the Chinese Pharmacopoeia comes days after China announced that pangolins were getting an upgrade under Chinese wildlife protection law. The National Government has now designated pangolins to be classified as a Class 1 protected species alongside the Giant Panda, the Red Panda and several species of Tigers, which means a prohibition on almost all domestic trade and use of those animals.

In 2007, China started banning pangolin hunting in the wild, and the international trade in pangolins or their scales has been prohibited since 2017 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Peter Knight, CEO of WildAid, an organisation that focuses on reducing demand for wildlife products has applauded the decision and said that it could be “the signal greatest measure that could be taken to save the pangolins”.

However, it is unknown what China will do with the stockpiles of pangolin scales it has retained. In the past, traditional Chinese medicine companies have been able to draw on stockpiles even after products have been banned, taking advantage of loopholes so that some commercial domestic trade in those products can still continue. According to Chris Hamley, a pangolin expert at the London-based Environment Investigation Agency, a 2006 regulation allowed companies to sell out existing leopard bone inventory, without actually stating how much they had in their reserves.

The question still remains, how effective will this new status be for the protection of pangolins, and whether the reduction of consumption and demand for pangolins will ultimately curb illegal hunting and trading of this animal.