DAILY QUICK READ - JULY 21, 2016

The War at Sea

Fleets of Asian fishing trawlers and processing ships are literally taking the food out of the mouths of poor Africans.  And, destroying the fragile sea life diversity that exists in the Indian Ocean off the southern African coast.

It is the greatest war on poaching in East and Southern Africa.

Rangers from Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, the Comoros, France and Madagascar patrol an area 50 times the size of Kruger National Park. There are no elephants or rhinos here, yet the annual loss of wildlife dwarfs the sale of ivory.

Illegal netting in the Mozambique Channel has reached crisis levels with trawlers, mostly from Asia, scooping up thousands of tonnes of fish, dolphins, turtles and prawns.

In 2013, a study showed that only one of the 130 boats working the sea between Maputo and Pemba belonged to Mozambique. The government says it loses more than $65-million a year to illegal fishing. But not all the catch goes to China or Vietnam; a European Union report suggests some of it is smuggled overland to South Africa. Deep-sea fish such as tuna and mackerel traverse long distances, so poaching off Mozambique can affect stocks as far away as Kenya.

“The crisis in our oceans is real,” said John Duncan, who heads the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-SA) marine programme in Cape Town.

“The haul from illegal fishing is estimated to be over $23-billion annually, which dwarfs the ivory and rhino horn trade, and the real danger is that we don’t see it.

Disgusting Pangolin Market

Recently a severely injured pangolin was brought into the Naankuse conservation site in Namibia.  Apparently, someone had taken an axe to the shy, gentle creature in order to either kill it or strip off its valuable scales.  Whoever did this was disgusting, but let’s assume it was someone who was looking to provide some meager income for his/her family.  The truly disgusting player in this drama is the Asian market that the Chinese and Vietnamese government refuse to control.  That is the cause of the eminent extinction of the pangolin.

Despite the arrests and long-term sentences passed on several Zimbabwean pangolin capturers, dealers and traffickers over the past year, conservationists believe the increased seizure of live pangolins, pangolin scales, skins and other products indicate an upsurge in poaching of the world’s most widely trafficked animal.

According to quarterly crime incidence statistics for the period January to April 2016 released by the Tikki Hywood Trust in May, pangolin poaching crimes are still rampant in Zimbabwe, “This year alone, Zimbabwe has handled 20 criminal cases involving pangolin poachers and 41 accused persons countrywide. Of those, 16 have already received the mandatory 9-year sentence and 4 have been acquitted. Two warrants of arrest issued (in the same period),” the trust said.

In a statement circulated on World Pangolin Day in February, the Tikki Hywood Trust expressed concern that despite tough laws against illegal exploitation, Zimbabwe’s pangolins are still being poached to satisfy the foreign market:

“The pangolin is on the Zimbabwean list of specially protected endangered species. There is very strict legislation around the trafficking of any animal on the list and poachers can expect a minimum of 9 years in jail. The pangolin is of important cultural significance in Zimbabwe. The fact that they are being poached at such a high rate of late is frightening. What is most disturbing is that our natural heritage is being killed to satisfy a foreign market,” the trust said.

Thanks to the Conservation Action Trust.

Send In the Clones

There is nothing more majestic and imposing that a giant sequoia.   The most impressive of these trees are 300 feet tall and some are 3,000 years old.  Designed to be impervious to fire, in fact fire is a vital component in their life cycle.  They could provide the world with a huge carbon sink.

At the foot of a giant sequoia in California’s Sierra Nevada, two arborists stepped into harnesses then inched up ropes more than 20 stories into the dizzying canopy of a tree that survived thousands of years, enduring drought, wildfire and disease.

There, the arborists clipped off tips of young branches to be hand-delivered across the country, cloned in a lab and eventually planted in a forest in some other part of the world.

The two are part of a cadre of modern day Johnny Appleseeds who believe California’s giant sequoias and coastal redwoods are blessed with some of the heartiest genetics of any trees on Earth — and that propagating them will help reverse climate change, at least in a small way.

“It’s a biological miracle,” said tree climber Jim Clark, firmly back on the ground and holding a green sprig to his lips as if to kiss it. “This piece of tissue … can be rooted, and we have a miniature 3,000-year-old tree.”

Sequoias growing in the Sierra are among the biggest and oldest trees on Earth, some nearly 300 feet tall and up to 3,000 years old.

Relying on common sense that he says is being borne out by science, Milarch, 66, believes their size and robustness make them ideal for absorbing greenhouse gases that drive climate change on the planet. He likens them to people who drink and smoke all their lives, yet thrive well into their 90s.

A 12 Step Program Maybe?

Two options here.  One, the slow loris is attracted to highly fermented nectar for its high caloric content.  Or, two, slow loris’ have an alcohol problem.

They were once considered merely lazy and adorable. But new research into the antics of the slow loris has revealed a wilder side to the docile creatures. Given the chance the innocent-eyed beasts will neck the most alcoholic drinks they can lay their paws on.

The ability of the slow loris to seek out the most potent brew in reach was discovered by researchers in the US who wanted to know whether the animals favoured highly-fermented nectar over the less alcoholic forms secreted by plants in their natural habitats. As sugary nectar ferments in the wild, its calorie content rises, making it a potentially more valuable source of energy.

In a series of tests with Dharma, an adult female slow loris, biologists at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire found that when presented with a choice of sugary solutions laced with different amounts of alcohol, the loris speedily settled on the most intoxicating.

But while the animal was quickly drawn to the nectar substitutes, which contained between 1% and 4% alcohol, the slow loris displayed what the researchers describe as “a relative aversion to tap water”, which was used as a control.

China's "Arsehole"

The long border between China and Myanmar has always been porous.  A variety of illegal goods find safe passage between to two countries.  On the Myanmar side, the town of Mongla typifies the nature of the illicit and unrestrained cross-border trade.  Although in Myanmar, Mongla is far more connected to China.

The town - virtually an independent fiefdom operating on Chinese currency, electricity and mobile phone networks - is run by Sai Leung, also known as Lin Min Xiang, who has his own 3,000-strong National Democratic Alliance Army.

Through its Chinese connections and the lack of central government control, Mongla has become a border town where anything goes.

Pangolin skins for sale in Mongla

Every day thousands of Chinese tourists pour over the border to Mongla… a haven for gambling, transvestite shows and illicit drugs. Fondly known as the “arsehole of China” (中国的肛门), this former backwater has also become the centre of the region’s booming illegal wildlife trade.

The most ubiquitous representative of the illegal animal trade in Mongla is the pangolin.  Sold both live and dead by the roadside and in open air markets.  Pangolin fetuses soaked in wine are sold in shops, where dressed out pangolin bush meat is also for sale.  Higher end shops sell pangolin scales at prices approaching rhino horn levels.

The pangolin is the world’s most widely poached and illegally traded animal.  Pangolins represent an estimated 20% of the global wildlife black market.

Unfortunately, the pangolin has been the world’s most anonymous extinction candidate.  Pangolins are reclusive, mostly nocturnal insectivores that once ranged across Southeast Asia, India and Africa.  Today, there are eight species of pangolins still extant in the wild.  Of those, the four Asian species have been hunted close to extinction.  With the supply of pangolins in Asia depleted, poachers and smugglers are turning to Africa to fill the void.

Pangolin meat is considered a delicacy in China and Vietnam.  Often, at a meal to celebrate the close of big business deal, a panolin is slaughtered at table side. Pangolin fetuses pickled in wine are sold both as curatives and as displays of ostentation. 

Unfortunately for the pangolin its most distinctive characteristic is the protective scales that cover its body.  Made of keratin, the same material as human hair or nails, its covering of scales make the pangolin unique among mammals.  Pangolin scales are considered to have the same sort of curative power as rhino horn and are coveted by the same market.  

A recently published study pointed to the centrality of Mongla to the pangolin trade.

There have been a few seizures in other parts of northern Myanmar around Mandalay and across the border in Yunnan province in southwest China, but no real action to stem the daily flow over the border.  Between 2010-2014, pangolins and their parts worth US$3.09 million in Myanmar were seized according to CITES data, but the authorities have not reported a single case to the international body. Seizures only reflect a fraction of the total trade, indicating the size of the problem.

Myanmar and China are both signatories of the CITES treaty banning the international trade in wildlife.  Myanmar has virtually no control over its border area with China.   And, despite commitments to stop the trade, China has done little to crack down on the illegal trade in Mongla. Nor has China (or Vietnam) made enforcement of existing laws against trafficking in either country. Until China steps forward, pangolins will continue to be sacrificed in the markets and shops of Mongla.

The pangolin has some strong advocates, here is a list of some of them.  They could use your support.

The Tikki Hywood Trust.

Save Pangolins.

IUCN SCC Pangolin Specialist Group.

African Wildlife Foundation.

Here's an example of the effort made to save just two pangolins.    It's the hope behind this blog.