The Odisha Forest department has stressed the need for stricter monitoring of social media platforms to check pangolin poaching and trading.
- During past few years, instances of pangolin poaching have been reported at regular intervals from different parts of Odisha.
About Pangolin
- Pangolins are actually mammals, and not reptiles.
- According to the WWF, of the eight extant species of pangolin, the Indian Pangolin Manis crassicaudata and Chinese Pangolin M. pentadactyla occur in India.
- Indian Pangolin is widely distributed in India, except the arid region, high Himalayas and the North-East.
- It can be found at elevation up to 2500 m. The species also occurs in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
- Being It is listed in Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and as Endangered on IUCN Red List.
- Major threats to pangolins in India are hunting and poaching for local consumptive use (e.g. as a protein source and traditional medicine) and international trade, for its meat and scales in East and South East Asian countries, particularly China and Vietnam.
- In 2016, all eight pangolin species were transferred from Appendix II to Appendix I –of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) thus prohibiting any international commercial trade in pangolin parts.
