The Most Trafficed Mammal You've Never Heard Of - Camille Vigil

     In June 2013, CNN had a poll on their website that asked people to vote on the issues they would most like to have CNN report about. This project, called "CNN's Change the List Project" chose the five issues that got the most votes, one of which being illegal animal trade.
     John D. Sutter, the author of this extensive article, traveled to Indonesia to learn more about the illegal trade of the pangolin. Most people have never heard of this animal, including myself. It is about the size of a house cat and is type of anteater with scales on it. They are harmless little creatures who are very shy and roll up into a ball to protect themselves when frightened. They're basically indestructible in the wild - there are even Youtube videos of lions looking confused while nudging the rolled-up pangolin. The pangolin's only threat is humans. The pangolin is believed by many experts to be possibly the MOST trafficked mammal in the world. However, since so few people have even heard of the animal, there is very scarce funding and awareness for the cause of saving the pangolin population. Pangolins are used for their scales in traditional medicine - that is, remedies and other types of alleged treatments for ailments that have not been scientifically proven as treatment. Furthermore, pangolin scales are made of the same material that fingernails are made of. Pangolin is also eaten as a delicacy and "to show off", according to this article. In restaurants, pangolin costs $250-350 dollars per kilo. Pangolin is usually served live, the waitress bringing the live pangolin to the table and slitting its throat in front of the customers. John Sutter speculates in the article that this is sort of assurance for the customer that they are indeed being served real pangolin and not a substitute. It is estimated that 10,000 pangolins are traded per year, but likely more, taking into account the trafficking that is never discovered by government/law enforcement.
     This article made me really sad. I love animals, and I hope that something can be done to at least raise awareness of this cause. Awareness alone can lead to better laws and restrictions being placed on pangolin hunting.
     The article explains a lot more detail about the pangolin trade, but here's a link from CNN to several simple ways that we can help the pangolins. http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/01/opinion/sutter-pangolin-help-change/index.html
    And here's the link to the article http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/04/opinion/sutter-change-the-list-pangolin-trafficking/index.html?hpt=hp_c2&hpt=hp_c2