Pangolins are such a gentle harmless creature. They lead simple lives, eating and caring for their young. Somehow someone decided that the scales of a dead pangolin have medicinal value. Now they are brutally hunted and cruelly killed.
https://qz.com/india/1500980/watch-how-e...ias-assam/
What is the matter with us that we declare weird animal body parts to have medicinal value. If you want to help your health, eat right and exercise more. Pangolin scales won't do it no matter how much you pay for them.
Sadly because people are willing to pay large amounts, poachers will keep killing them. They need the money.
If we can't stop people from wanting to buy pangolin scales, maybe something can be done to fund the poachers to do less destructive and cruel work. If they had a better option for income that was more steady and secure maybe they would turn away from animal cruelty. Surely no one really wants to kill little animals like that.
(12-27-2018, 04:34 PM)Catherine Wrote: [ -> ]What is the matter with us that we declare weird animal body parts to have medicinal value. If you want to help your health, eat right and exercise more. Pangolin scales won't do it no matter how much you pay for them.
Sadly because people are willing to pay large amounts, poachers will keep killing them. They need the money.
If we can't stop people from wanting to buy pangolin scales, maybe something can be done to fund the poachers to do less destructive and cruel work. If they had a better option for income that was more steady and secure maybe they would turn away from animal cruelty. Surely no one really wants to kill little animals like that.
I know. Mainly the body parts contain no more than keratin, or in the case of Tiger bones, Calcium I suppose.
The rest....probably based on superstition (such as a Tiger is strong and fearless and virile, etc)
But yes, the main reason such awful cruelty perpetuates, is because it is a way for people to make money -who either cannot think of anything else to do, or in some cases are trapped in their "business" by financial circumstances.
I like the way some charities work re: the dog meat trade, for example. Some of the dog meat butchers are helped into an even more lucrative business which involves no cruelty.
It's a pity a similar solution cant be found for the Pangolin poachers.
Quote:I know. Mainly the body parts contain no more than keratin, or in the case of Tiger bones, Calcium I suppose.
The rest....probably based on superstition (such as a Tiger is strong and fearless and virile, etc)
Fingernails and toe nails. That is essentially what the scales are made of.
Tigers are at least strong and fearless. Pangolins, not so much. They are harmless forest creatures who curl up in a ball if they get frightened.
Since we will never shake people of the silly belief that the scales are good for them, then we need to work on the poachers.
If only they could be hired as rangers to protect the pangolins. It is shutting down the dog meat farms to find the farmers other sources of income. It is the more sustainable solution to have the poachers employed somehow. If the employment involved protecting live pangolins even better. They would work to save them not kill them.
I totally agree with everything which you both have written above. The best practical way forward is to get these impoverished poachers some other lucrative way of making a living. When there are hungry mouths to feed, such people are not going to listen to reason or lectures about compassion or preserving species.
However, having said all that, the demand for such animal parts will not cease until the false belief in their medical properties is soundly dealt with a local level. These superstitions do need to be challenged for what they are - completely baseless medically. A double-pronged attack is needed. The demand needs to cease, as well as helping the poachers to find alternative sources of income. Otherwise, the importers and processors will just seek new poachers for a higher rate of pay.
Quote: However, having said all that, the demand for such animal parts will not cease until the false belief in their medical properties is soundly dealt with a local level. These superstitions do need to be challenged for what they are - completely baseless medically. A double-pronged attack is needed. The demand needs to cease, as well as helping the poachers to find alternative sources of income. Otherwise, the importers and processors will just seek new poachers for a higher rate of pay.
You are quite right. I just don't know how you can convince people that things like pangolin scales have no medical properties whatsoever. I can't imagine how they got the idea in the first place.
I can understand using certain herbs as medicine. The plants contain chemicals that have an effect and often are later turned into mass produced drugs that are sold. The pangolin scales are just the same stuff as fingernails. We know that fingernails have no medical properties or people who bite their fingernails would have perfect health.
I think it is going to be easier to find jobs for poachers than to overcome superstitions. Superstitious medical beliefs are probably the hardest to overcome. Because superstitions are irrational they cannot be overcome by rational arguments.
Maybe someone could start making fake pangolin scales. I bet a 3D printer could do it. They could even be made out of keratin. It is a thought. I wonder if it could really work.