Pangolins: Illegal wildlife trade victims and possible COVID-19 intermediary hosts.

Pangolin Fact Sheet

 The pangolin, otherwise known as the scaly anteater, is the only mammal in the world to be covered from head to toe in keratin scales. The word pangolin comes from the Malay word “penggulung”, which means ‘one that rolls up’. When threatened, a pangolin will curl itself quickly into a tight ball, using their scales like armour.  Overlapping like artichoke leaves, these scales grow throughout the life of a pangolin and their edges are constantly filed down as they dig burrows and tunnels through the soil in search of termites and ants. Pangolins have also been known to deter predators by hissing and puffing, and lashing out their sharp-edged tails.
 
These animals live predominantly on a diet of ants and termites, although they have been known to eat a few other vertebrates as well. Estimates indicate that one adult pangolin can consume more than 70 million insects annually, and play an important pest control role in the ecosystem. Pangolins have poor vision so they locate termites and ant nests with their strong sense of smell. Their tongue, which is longer than the animal’s head and body when full extended, attaches near its pelvis and last pair of ribs and retracts into a sheath in its chest cavity. Pangolins do not have teeth so they cannot chew. Instead, they have keratinous spines in their stomach and swallow stones that help them grind up their food.
 
A pangolin shuffles on all four limbs, balancing on their forefeet and tucking their foreclaws underneath as they walk. Surprisingly, these animals are capable swimmers and although some species are completely terrestrial, others are adept climbers, using their claws and semi-prehensile tail to grip bark and climb trees.
 
There are eight species of pangolin, four found in Asia (the Chinese, Malayan, the Indian and the Palawan pangolin), and four found in Africa (the Tree pangolin, the Giant Ground pangolin, the Cape pangolin and the Long-tailed pangolin). All eight species are threatened with extinction and listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (“IUCN”) Red List of Threatened Species as either vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered [1]. 

A possible intermediary for COVID-19?

According to a paper published on 26 March in Nature (2020) entitled “Identifying SARS-CoV-2 related coronaviruses in Malayan pangolins"[2], new research has found evidence that a small proportion of pangolins carry coronaviruses related to the strain responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Lead researcher Dr. Tommy Lam from the Joint Institute of Virology (Shantou University/University of Hong Kong) said two groups of coronaviruses related to the virus behind the human pandemic have been identified in Malayan pangolins (also known as the Sunda pangolin) seized in anti-smuggling operations in southern China.  The team analysed tissue samples from 18 Malayan pangolins, tested for the presence of coronaviruses and sequenced the genomes of those viruses. The results from the genetic sequencing of several strains of coronavirus found in the pangolins were between 88.5% and 92.4% similar to those of the COVID-19. This finding makes pangolins the only other mammals other than bats known to be infected by the closest relatives of the novel coronavirus. However, just how the virus jumped from a wild animal, presumably a bat, to another animal and then to humans still remains a mystery.

But other researchers are not as certain. A team led by Zhang Zhigang from Yunnan University told Chinese publication Science Daily that the evidence suggested that these genetic similarities did not pass the generally accepted 99% threshold needed to make the virus jump from pangolins to humans. Instead, researchers should focus on wild animals that share a habitat with the pangolin.[3]
 
Given the discovery of multiple lineages of pangolin coronavirus and their similarity to COVID-19, the authors of the Nature paper have suggested that these animals should be immediately removed from wet markets in order to prevent any further zootonic [animal to human] transmission. The World Health Organisation have recently called for stricter safety and hygiene standards when wet markets reopen, including calling on governments to rigorously enforce bans on the sale and trade of wildlife for food. [4] If there is indeed a lesson to be learnt from the current pandemic, it must be that in order to help prevent the next pandemic, humans must begin reducing their exposure to wildlife, by not only banning the sale and consumption of exotic animals including the pangolin at wet markets, but also tackling the lucrative illegal wildlife trade.

Illegal wildlife trade

Wildlife trade is the fourth most lucrative criminal enterprise in the world after the smuggling of illegal drugs and arms, and human trafficking.

All eight pangolin species have been added by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) [5] which regulates the international wildlife trade, to its Appendix I, reserved for the strictest prohibitions on animals threatened with extinction. Although international commercial trade of all eight species of pangolin is strictly forbidden, they are nevertheless the most trafficked mammal in the world and account for as much as 20% of all illegal wildlife trade. The IUCN estimate that a pangolin is taken from the wild every five minutes. [6]

The pangolin trade is centuries old, with one of the earliest known examples documented in 1820, when Francis Rawdon, 1st Marquis of Hastings and East India Company Governor General in Bengal, presented King George III with a coat and helmet made with the scales of an Indian pangolin painted with gold (now displayed in the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds [7].

Despite its status as a highly protected species, there is a thriving black-market pangolin trade, especially active in Asia. The meat of the animal is considered a delicacy and believed to impart health benefits despite the lack of any scientific evidence. But rather, it is the demand for their scales that is wiping out these animals. Pangolins are boiled to remove their scales, which are then typically dried, ground into powder and put into pills, then sold as traditional Chinese medicine.

In China, where such treatments continue to be sanctioned by the Government, more than 200 pharmaceutical companies produce some 60 types of traditional medicines that contain pangolin scales. Every year Chinese provinces collectively issue approvals for companies to use an average of 29 tonnes of the scales, roughly representing 73,000 individual pangolins.[8]  However, in light of a recent government announcement, traditional medicines containing pangolin scales will no longer be covered by China’s state insurance funds [9].

Hong Kong is the hub for illegal wildlife trade, evidenced by the considerable value, volume and range of endangered wildlife seized by customs authorities annually. In global rankings, Hong Kong is home to the largest cargo airport [10], the 8th busiest passenger airport [11], and the 7th largest container port [12].

In December 2018, the Hong Kong Wildlife Trade Working Group published a report entitled “Trading in Extinction: The Dark Side of Hong Kong’s Wildlife Trade” (“the HKWTWG Report”) [13]. The 240-page report found that in the past decade, the diversity of endangered species imported into Hong Kong increased 57 percent, and involved 2,050 species exported from 130 countries, with estimated value of the imports increasing by 1,600 per cent. The Hong Kong Government estimates the annual value of its seizures between 2013 and 2017 to be approximately HK$87 – 142 million, a total of HK$560 million over this period. However, this figure only represents contraband that has actually been seized, the true figure likely to be much higher than what is reported.

The HKWTWG Report found that in the past five years (2013 – 2018), Hong Kong Customs made 1,843 seizures of wildlife products with a combined weight of almost 89 metric tonnes, split into three categories (elephant, pangolin and “other endangered species”). Since 2013, it is estimated over 60 tonnes of pangolin scales (roughly equating to over 100,000 animals) were seized in Hong Kong. More pangolin scales and body parts were seized in Hong Kong than in any other jurisdiction between 2013 and 2015. It was calculated that pangolin scales are worth about HK$230 per kilogram in Africa but fetch a more profitable price of up to HK$5,800 per kilogram in Mainland China.

As recent as January 2019, Hong Kong Customs and Excise Officers seized 8 tonnes of pangolin scales – estimated to come from more than 14,000 pangolins at a Hong Kong customs facility. The contraband was concealed under slabs of frozen meat on a cargo ship headed towards Vietnam. The cargo ship originated from Nigeria, with the total of the illegal goods valued at almost HK$62 million - the largest ever wildlife product seizure in Hong Kong [14].

Is there enough of a deterrent in Hong Kong?

The Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plant Ordinance, Cap 586 (“the Ordinance”) [15], was enacted in 2006 to give effect to CITES and to regulate the import, introduction from sea, export, re-export and possession of certain endangered species of animals and plants and parts and derivatives of those species.

In the HKWTWG Report, 165 wildlife crime prosecutions between 2013 and 2017 in Hong Kong were reviewed, finding sentences imposed by Courts ranged from penalties of HK$1,500 to HK$180,000 and from 160 hours of community service to 8 months in custody, markedly lower than the maximum penalty available under the Ordinance (HK$5 million fine and 2 years’ imprisonment). In fact, the financial penalties imposed by Courts pale in significance when compared to the value of wildlife products and the after-care costs. The HKWTWG Report also considered the Wildlife Product Seizures Database (“WiPS”), between 2013 and 2017, for the 99 cases where both fine and seizure values were available. It found the total pecuniary penalties only amounted to less than 18% of the total estimated value of the products (HK$5.2 million total fines and HK$30 million estimated value). It is clear that the sentences imposed in Hong Kong unfortunately not only fail to deter criminals, but actually stress how lucrative wildlife crime is, as well as how little risk there actually is in perpetrating these offences.

In considering the species and/or product of wildlife seized in Hong Kong, notable differences in criminal prosecution were also identified by the HKWTWG Report. Seizures involving ivory trade had the highest level of prosecution at 79%, while prosecutions involving other CITES endangered species including the pangolins were below 20%. In 2018, of the 26 pangolin trafficking cases identified by WiPS, only five were prosecuted (19%) which included one acquittal.
 
After the 17th meeting of the Conference of the parties to CITES [16], the Secretary for the Environment, by exercise of his power under section 48 of the Ordinance, made the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plant (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 [17], which came into effect 1 May 2018. Among the amendments was the introduction of stricter penalties for offences against the Ordinance, in the hope of deterring wildlife crime. A person who now contravenes section 9 of the Ordinance (restriction on possession of specimens of Appendix I Species), is liable on summary conviction to a fine of HK$5 million and to imprisonment of 2 years; or on conviction on indictment to a fine of HK$10 million and to imprisonment for 10 years. The amendments have meant the new penalties, particularly the imprisonment terms, are even more stringent than the references from the United Nations on wildlife crimes and are on the high side when compared with the international norm.
 
While there have been successful arrests and prosecutions in respect of wildlife crime in Hong Kong, there is still a desperate need to ensure crimes are better investigated and prosecutions more vigorously pursued. There also needs to be a way to properly investigate and tackle wildlife trafficking syndicates at the heart of their operation, rather than upon their entry into Hong Kong. The amendments to the Ordinances are desperately welcomed and hopefully will promote Hong Kong as a place that is serious about stopping illegal wildlife crime.

References

[1] https://www.iucnredlist.org/
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2169-0
[3] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3076970/pangolins-may-not-have-passed-coronavirus-humans-say-chinese
[4] https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52369878
[5] https://www.cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php
[6] https://www.iucn.org/news/secretariat/201606/seizure-huge-african-pangolin-scale-shipment-points-worrying-increase-trafficking
[7] http://www.jenniferhowes.com/blog-/pangolins-in-colonial-india.html
[8] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/08/pangolin-traditional-medicine-not-covered-insurance/
[9]http://www.nhsa.gov.cn/art/2019/8/20/art_37_1666.html
[10] https://www.hongkongairport.com/en/media-centre/press-release/2018/pr_1285
[11] https://aci.aero/news/2019/03/13/preliminary-world-airport-traffic-rankings-released/
[12] https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/02/14/hong-kong-port-slips-global-top-five-first-time/
[13] https://www.admcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Trading-in-Extinction-The-Dark-Side-of-HKs-Wildlife-Trade-Report-EN.pdf
[14] https://phys.org/news/2019-02-hong-kong-seizes-tonnes-pangolin.html
[15] https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap586
[16] https://cites.org/eng/cop/17/doc/index.php
[17] https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/egazettedownload?EGAZETTE_PDF_ID=15749