Pity the Pangolin
I recently wrote about endangered species and have posted about the "insect apocalypse" and the passing of the passenger pigeons. Now I will move on to consider pangolins which I did not know existed and soon won't. After that I will offer a few words about totoabas.
Pangolins are anteater-like mammals that are (soon to be were) found in Asia and Africa and I don’t think I had ever seen the word until I read that 9 TONS of their scales have just been seized from one ship in Hong Kong. Apparently the 9 tons represents around 14,000 of the little critters.I guess I missed the article from 2013 about a ship carrying 22,000 pounds of pangolin which hit a reef in the Philippines.
I should mention that, perhaps acting as ballast, there were also 1,000 elephant tusks in the same shipment.
Totoabas
Totoabas are fish that are found in increasingly decreasing numbers and only in the Gulf of California. Recently, “Chinese customs officials have confiscated 444 kilograms (980 pounds) of totoaba swim bladders, estimated to be worth about $26 million.” Note, that weight is just bladder weight; I am not sure how many totoabas were involved.
In both cases the main reasons for the slaughter are ‘medicinal’ ones and the Chinese are involved. Apparently the Chinese apothecary profession is not as advanced as the one producing the 5G communication networks. It is unfortunate indeed that, while we are losing so many species simply as collateral damage, others are being deliberately destroyed for medicinal reasons without merit.
Sources:
The Wikipedia entries for both species are very good.
I learned about the poaching of the pangolins from: "9 Tons of Pangolin Scales Are Seized in Hong Kong, Tiffany Mat, New York Times, Feb. 1, 2019. For earlier articles see: "A Struggle to Save the Scaly Pangolin," Erica Good, New York Times, Mar. 30, 2015 and "No Species is Safe From Burgeoning Wildlife Trade," Bettina Wassener, Mar. 12, 2013.
For the totoaba see the website of the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO) and the entry for "Totoaba". For a recent smuggling case see: "China Seizes Totoaba Swim Bladders Worth $26 Million, Arrests 16," Mongabay.com, Dec. 29, 2018.
I should mention that, perhaps acting as ballast, there were also 1,000 elephant tusks in the same shipment.
Totoabas
Totoabas are fish that are found in increasingly decreasing numbers and only in the Gulf of California. Recently, “Chinese customs officials have confiscated 444 kilograms (980 pounds) of totoaba swim bladders, estimated to be worth about $26 million.” Note, that weight is just bladder weight; I am not sure how many totoabas were involved.
In both cases the main reasons for the slaughter are ‘medicinal’ ones and the Chinese are involved. Apparently the Chinese apothecary profession is not as advanced as the one producing the 5G communication networks. It is unfortunate indeed that, while we are losing so many species simply as collateral damage, others are being deliberately destroyed for medicinal reasons without merit.
Sources:
The Wikipedia entries for both species are very good.
I learned about the poaching of the pangolins from: "9 Tons of Pangolin Scales Are Seized in Hong Kong, Tiffany Mat, New York Times, Feb. 1, 2019. For earlier articles see: "A Struggle to Save the Scaly Pangolin," Erica Good, New York Times, Mar. 30, 2015 and "No Species is Safe From Burgeoning Wildlife Trade," Bettina Wassener, Mar. 12, 2013.
For the totoaba see the website of the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO) and the entry for "Totoaba". For a recent smuggling case see: "China Seizes Totoaba Swim Bladders Worth $26 Million, Arrests 16," Mongabay.com, Dec. 29, 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment