A live pangolin was reportedly offered for sale in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店), with sellers allegedly offering to cook the protected animal to attract buyers, the city’s Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office said yesterday.
Three suspects, surnamed Chiang (江), Kao (高) and Chiu (邱), were seen hawking a pangolin at Sindian’s Liching Sunset Market (立青黃昏市場) on Feb. 1, and, despite the three offering to prepare a meal from the animal for free, no one bought the pangolin, and a passerby reported the incident to the office, which suggests that public conservation awareness has increased, office director Chen Yuan-chuan (陳淵泉) said yesterday.
The informant reported the license plate of the car used by the suspects, which police used to track down the trio, who claimed that they released the pangolin at a mountain in the district’s Ankeng (安坑) area.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Government Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office
Chiang said his dog found the pangolin near his residence in Ankeng and he decided to sell the animal because he needed money, the office said.
The three violated the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) and could each receive a maximum prison sentence of five years and a maximum fine of NT$1.5 million (US$44,839), the office said, adding that the case has been transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
The thwarted sale of the pangolin was the first such case in the city, Chen said, adding that the three are first-time offenders.
The office did not reveal the incident until yesterday, as it was awaiting the completion of an investigation that ran throughout the Lunar New Year holiday.
There are eight species of pangolin, native to Asia and Africa, but their numbers are in decline due to poaching and illegal trafficking, the office said.
Pangolins are classified as rare animals in Taiwan’s three-category wildlife protection list.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, pangolins are the most trafficked mammal in the world, and more than 1 million wild pangolins have been hunted over the past 10 years, the office said.
Pangolin scales are believed to be of high medical value, which the office said was unsupported by scientific evidence, calling on the public to not be misled into purchasing the animals.
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