Covid-19: China orders highest level of protection for pangolins

Team Udayavani, Jun 8, 2020, 1:03 PM IST

China is ordering its highest level of protection for pangolins amid the coronavirus pandemic. The move was announced considering their rapidly decreasing numbers, due to overhunting.

Pangolin meat is viewed as a delicacy in China and its scales are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicines to promote lactation and cure impotence resulting in the massive poaching of the mammal.

Sources claim, Pangolins are the world’s most trafficked mammal. About one million pangolins are estimated to have been poached in the last decade, and every year 20 tonnes of pangolins and their parts are trafficked internationally

Animals  such as giant pandas, Tibetan antelopes and red-crowned cranes are also protected at China.

Earlier, in February China had banned the trade and consumption of wild animals.