Pangolin SLAUGHTER: 30,000 killed for £25 million Chinese medicine black market

The 12-ton consignment could be worth more than £25 million on the black market where the scales are hailed as a cure against becoming an ogre as well as treating asthma and arthritis.

Pangolins have been pushed to the brink of extinction because of the insatiable demand for their scales – made from keratin, the same substance as human finger nails, but said to have medicinal properties in Oriental medicine.

Chinese customs officials have only just released details of the pangolin scales seized in 239 bags and hidden in a shipping container in the port of Shenzhen in July.

Experts have been able to work out the horrendous level of slaughter to produce the biggest scale haul ever recorded in China.

Each internationally protected pangolin is covered in around one pound of the tough scales, meaning between 20,000 and 30,000 of African mammals would have died to produce the haul. 

The Chinese Xinhua news agency says police only recently arrested two suspects who confessed they bought the scales from an African country and transported them to the Far East disguised as charcoal.

Anyone catching, killing or dealing in pangolins can face up to 10 years in a Chinese jail.

Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly ant-eaters, are one of the most primitive mammals and use their scales as a protective mechanism, rolling up into a ball and relying on the armour-plating to save them from the jaws and claws of predators.

Largely nocturnal, they are found across Africa and Asia but their numbers have declined dramatically as demand for their scales as well as their flesh has grown in China and Vietnam, where it is hailed as a cure for asthma, rheumatism and arthritis. If cooked in boys’ urine, the scales are said to be a cure for crying children and women possessed by ogres.

One pangolin is said to be killed every hour to meet the illegal demand. 

There are eight species of pangolin globally, four in Asia and four in Africa, and last year all were given the top level of protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). 

Populations in China and Vietnam are classed as critically endangered and the other Asian species are endangered. 

The four African species are classed as vulnerable.

Their global plight recently saw Prince William recording a video plea in which he warns: “The pangolin runs the risk of becoming extinct before most people have even heard of them.”

In China, their plight has seen them attract one of the country’s biggest names: martial arts superstar Jackie Chan. 

Chan recently filmed a brilliant 47-second video to highlight the plight of pangolins.

The hilarious video – Kung Fu Pangolin – shows Chan trying to train the endangered creatures whose only defence from hunters with dogs is to roll into a ball.

As Chan tells viewers about the plight of pangolins, the CGI production shows them picking up a few of the master’s ninja moves and putting a poacher firmly in his place.

Explaining why he is backing the public service announcement video as well as huge billboard campaign, Chan says: “It's crazy in this day and age that people are still eating these wild animals and threatening them with extinction. 

"I hope we can persuade people that it's the wrong thing to do.”