Scales Under Siege: Pangolins, the World’s Most Trafficked Mammals

Jul 13, 2025
2 min read

Every five minutes, a pangolin is poached. This nocturnal, scale-covered mammal has the unfortunate distinction of being the most trafficked mammal on Earth. From the forests of India to the savannahs of Africa, pangolins are hunted for their meat, falsely believed medicinal properties, and exotic value. Despite protection under CITES Appendix I and India’s Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, pangolin trafficking persists—fueled by black-market networks, cultural myths, and poor law enforcement.

What Makes Pangolins So Vulnerable?

Shy and solitary: Difficult to monitor in the wild.
Specialist feeders: Highly dependent on ants and termites.
Slow reproduction: Only 1 offspring per year.
High demand: Traditional medicine in China, a delicacy in Vietnam and parts of Africa.

Pangolin scales, made of keratin like human nails, are falsely believed to treat ailments such as arthritis, asthma, infertility, and cancer, despite a lack of clinical evidence supporting these pseudoscientific claims.

Global Pangolin Trade: 2020–2025 Insights

Post COVID-19, wildlife traffickers shifted to social media platforms.

Case Spotlight: India’s Growing Role

India has emerged as both a source and transit country in the illegal pangolin trade, community involvement is particularly important in states like Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra where poaching incidents are frequently reported (TRAFFIC, 2023). Public awareness campaigns are also crucial to challenge widespread myths about the medicinal value of pangolin scales, helping reduce demand in countries like China and Vietnam. Strengthening legal frameworks through stricter penalties, while empowering India’s forest and wildlife departments with better training, funding, and technology, is key to enforcement. Moreover, cross-border cooperation between source, transit, and destination countries—including intelligence sharing, synchronized enforcement actions, and harmonized legislation—can significantly curb illegal trafficking. Only through coordinated local and global action can the future of pangolins can be safeguarded.

140+ pangolin seizures between 2018 - 2022

Trade routes: Central India → Northeast → Myanmar/China

Poaching Hotspots in India: Madhya Pradesh>Odisha>Maharashtra

Conclusion: From Crisis to Conservation

The pangolin crisis is a stark reminder of how cultural myths, weak enforcement, limited scientific awareness of pangolin behaviour and distribution, and myth-promoting digital information can converge into a conservation disaster. Even with laws in place, without community involvement and education, conservation efforts fall short. But with coordinated policy, science, and grassroots engagement, there’s still hope by involving forest-dwelling tribes in India in watchdog roles and offering income substitutes to poachers and traders. If we act now, we can ensure these gentle, scale-armoured creatures don’t disappear silently into extinction.

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