In order to further increase the protection of pangolins, China has raised all species of pangolins from the national second-level protected wildlife to the first level, which marks the current Chinese pangolins that are naturally distributed in China, as well as the horses that have been distributed in China according to documents. Coming pangolins and Indian pangolins will be strictly protected.
This reporter learned from the State Forestry and Grassland Bureau on the 5th. It is understood that Chinese pangolins were widely distributed in 17 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities south of the Yangtze River in mainland China. Due to over-hunting and utilization and habitat destruction, its distribution range has been continuously narrowed, the population has declined sharply, and the protection situation is very grim. According to the results of the first national survey of terrestrial wildlife resources released in 2003, the distribution range of Chinese pangolin has been reduced to 11 provinces, and the number has dropped to about 64,000.
In order to strengthen the protection of pangolins, China strictly prohibited the hunting of pangolins from the wild in 2007; in August 2018, the commercial import of pangolins and their products was completely stopped, and through the implementation of special actions and other measures, the destruction of pangolins and other wild animals was increased. The crackdown on resource crime. However, due to the continuous disturbance of the habitat of this species and the insufficient punishment for excessive pangolins, the rapid decline in pangolin resources has not been completely reversed. To this end, in recent years, my country has accelerated the promotion of pangolins to the national level of wildlife protection. On the basis of comprehensive collection of information on the species population and habitat data, organize experts to conduct scientific evaluation and argumentation, and extensively solicit opinions from various departments to carry out legality reviews to provide a scientific basis and reliable guarantee for this work.
In the next step, the State Forestry and Grassland Bureau will continue to adopt a series of measures to strengthen pangolin protection and rescue. It mainly includes: accelerating the investigation and monitoring of wild populations and habitats of pangolins, and laying a scientific foundation for carrying out comprehensive and systematic research, delineating protection areas, and carrying out special protection actions. Organize forces to strengthen field patrols, strictly prevent poaching and poaching, and continuously improve and restore their living environment. Strengthen the research on artificial breeding and wild release of pangolins, and build a pangolin protection research center and gene bank. Further increase pangolin protection and publicity efforts, severely crack down on illegal transactions, smuggling, excessive consumption of pangolin and its products and other illegal acts, reverse the pandemic population and habitat conditions continue to deteriorate, and promote the continuous recovery of pangolin populations. (Reporter Hu Lu)