The pangolin had previously been listed under Appendix II, which allowed for limited trade. But with booming demand for the animals’ scales, which have long been used in Chinese medicine, the illegal trade has continued to thrive. Poachers exploited this Appendix II loophole, struggling to keep up with increasing demand that drove the price of scales up 250 percent over the last five years, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. But today, at the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Johannesburg, South Africa, all four Asian pangolin species were protected before lunch, Mary Dixon, senior vice president of communications for the Wildlife Conservation Society, tells Popular Science. Then, after lunch, the convention reconvened to move all four African species up as well. “Global leaders were electrified,” says Dixon. Madhu Rao, senior advisor to the Wildlife Conservation Society of Asia, is pleased, too. “There is a huge coalition of NGOs and governments,” she said. “There’s a large momentum of support.” She adds that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service co-sponsored all the proposals at the conference, helping the measures pass. And while this is a positive move for the endangered animal, greater legal protection does not necessarily put a stop to poaching. Just look to the continued trade in elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns. But Rao says this status change is just a first step that will empower and educate law enforcement officials to take action to stop the illegal trade. “What needs to happen is a strengthening of national laws for protection of these species,” she says. The pangolin’s uplifting to Appendix I will allow this to happen. So even though illegal trade may still continue after this status change, Rao points out that poachers will no longer be able to exploit the Appendix II loopholes that allowed them to slip by. “With Appendix I, there can be no legal trade,” she says. “All trade is prohibited.”
