GUWAHATI: Pangolins or scaly anteaters are probably the only known mammals with the unique feature of having large, protective keratin scales covering their skin. But the scales which are supposed to be their shield from outside attack have turned out to be their biggest enemy.
Despite being protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, pangolin poaching is found to be much higher than poaching of other animals in the state. That includes rhinos. It is only because of the rampant poaching and smuggling of this animal that it has found itself in a critical situation.
Though the enforcement agencies and wildlife crime control agencies have been trying their best to ensure safety to the animal, the state has been seeing a constant uprising of smuggling of these animals - dead or alive. And being the capital city, Guwahati has obviously turned out as the major transit point for the smugglers of wildlife body parts.
Recently, on June 20, acting on a tip-off, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and state forest department sleuths, in a joint operation, rescued one adult pangolin and arrested two persons from a hotel in the city’s Lokhra area. The two identified as Micheal Palmar from Rynjah in Meghalaya and Biri Hachi from Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh had brought the pangolin from Naharlagun of Arunachal Pradesh and was taking it to sell in Dimapur in Nagaland.
Prior to this, in December too, the WCCB had rescued an adult pangolin from Boko area, located on the outskirts of the city, and arrested three persons in connection to the alleged smuggling racket.
A top official in WCCB said, “The entire northeastern region is home to at least two varieties of the pangolin - Indian pangolin and Chinese pangolin. While the Indian species is endangered, the Chinese one is highly endangered. Both of them are listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.”
Pangolin scales are smuggled to international markets in Southeast Asian countries and are used in traditional medicines and decorative items. Pangolin meat is also in demand in several places. They were hunted in the jungles of the state and then sold mostly to smuggling rackets of Nagaland from where these animals were sent across the borders to reach China and Malaysia where its scales and meat are used as medicine.
“Fresh scales are never used, but dried scales are roasted, ashed, cooked in oil, butter, vinegar, or roasted with earth or oyster-shells, to cure a variety of ills. Used as traditional Chinese medicine, the pangolin scales are believed to have ingredients that cure diseases like excessive nervousness and hysterical crying in children and women who are possessed by devils and ogres, malarial fever and deafness. The scales are typically dried and ground up into powder which may be turned into a pill,” added the official informing that around 6,000 pangolins were smuggled from India between 2009 and 2017 alone.
Studies have revealed that pangolin scales are made of keratin, the same material that makes up fingernails, hair or animal horns. Though wildlife experts have denied the pangolin scales of having any medicinal value, their demands have gone up. The price of pangolin scales ranged from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 per kg.
“While many strategies are being planned for rhino conservation, the same for pangolin is a much-neglected topic. Besides spreading awareness, there has to be strict enforcement of the law against the offenders,” said Niloy Das, a wildlife conservator from the state.