Pangolins have long been sustainably harvested by local
communities for their meat and scales, but today the
burgeoning trade in these mammals has reached crisis
point. Eight pangolin species occur worldwide, four in
Asia and four in Africa, and all face extinction if current
rates of hunting and trading continue unabated.
Now the spotlight is on the world’s most trafficked
mammal. Scientists have identified pangolins as the likely
source of the coronavirus infection that has brought the
world to its knees. This multi-trillion dollar disaster makes
pangolins the most expensive meals ever eaten.
In this timely exposé, Richard Peirce unpacks the horrors
and dangers of the trade in this enigmatic, little-known
mammal.
He explains the links between wildlife and
Covid-19, and details China’s response to the pandemic.
He also tells the story of a particular pangolin poached in
Zimbabwe and brought to South Africa to be traded.
Readers accompany an agent of the African Pangolin Working Group, assisted by the local police, on an actual sting operation to rescue the animal and capture the traffickers.
And they follow the subsequent progress of the rescued pangolin, from near death to rehabilitation and release into the
wild.
