PROJECT PANGOLIN

Sadly, it seems the number seven wasn’t so lucky for pangolins this week, as seven kilograms of their scales were seized in Nepal, another seven kg of scales were seized in the Philippines, and a business called ‘Lucky 7′ was found fronting for an illegal pangolin trade operation.

Nepalese police arrested two men found smuggling seven kilograms of pangolin scales in Nepal only days after Palawan officials apprehended three Chinese nationals running an illicit pangolin trade operation out of their ‘junk shop’ front business.

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Join us as we celebrate the eight species of pangolin!

PLEASE NOTE: World Pangolin Day 2013 is February 16!

Did you know that World Pangolin Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in February? We did some poking around on the interweb to see if pangolins have a special day — and they do!

This year, the special day falls on February 18^th.

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Enjoy!

This adorable baby pangolin was rescued by the team at Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program in Vietnam.

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Soaring illicit pangolin trade noted by yet another seizure of these wild-caught endangered animals — this time 180 of them in Thailand.

A 32 year-old man has been arrested by Thai Customs officials, after he was found driving a vehicle loaded with 180 pangolins — at least the fourth such bust of 2012 globally.

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Are pangolins being farmed for China’s traditional medicine industry?

We’ve uncovered disturbing information which strongly suggests that “medicinal use” pangolin farms are already operating in China.

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An update to our previous article about pangolin scales and flesh for sale online.

Good news: As a result of our recent story about pangolin products being sold on China’s top eCommerce website, Alibaba, we were contacted by a representative of the company who informed us that the pangolin pages have now been removed from the site.

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An update to last week’s pangolin seizures.

A Chinese national identified as Yefan Huang has been arrested by authorities in Palawan, Philippines. Huang is believed to be responsible for slaughtering hundreds of pangolins (scaly anteaters) in order to profit from the thriving illegal trade in this species.

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01/13/2012: Check out the update on this story here.

Despite pledges to clamp down on unethical trade in wildlife products, pangolin flesh and scales are offered for sale on a well-known website.

As of this writing, the above could be found here: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/499471942/Pangolin_Scales.html

A search for the term “pangolin” on a major eCommerce website yields some shocking and appalling results: The endangered animals’ flesh and scales are openly listed for sale.

And if that’s not shocking enough, who owns the website may be even more disturbing. (more…)

A prison term for a pangolin smuggler.

A Filipino man identified as Aivon Vencer has been sentenced to three years in prison for attempting to smuggle 1,068 frozen pangolins, weighing 4,988 kilograms.

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One pangolin has been saved from certain death.

Thanks to the efforts of the Kenya Wildlife Service, a pangolin has been rescued, and one suspect is under arrest.

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