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Commercial trade of the pangolin, the aardvark-like mammal that is the world's most-trafficked animal, has been 

 by the international body responsible for regulating the international trade of endangered species.
On Monday, delegates to a meeting in Johannesburg of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) voted to approve the strictest protections available under international law — moving the pangolin into a 

category reserved for species "threatened with extinction."

 by the World Conservation Congress to focus attention on the pangolin trade.


In her reporting on the animal, NPR's Jackie Northam described it this way: "The pangolin is about the size of a raccoon and looks like an artichoke with legs. Its head and body are covered with an armor of thorny scales, giving it the appearance of a reptile. When a pangolin is scared, it curls up into a tight ball."

, international demand for all eight species of pangolin has been rising:


In a statement following news of the international commercial ban, Elly Pepper, the deputy director of the Natural Resource Defense Council's wildlife trade initiative, wrote that the trade ban would "give the world's most-trafficked mammal a fighting chance at survival."



The trade of pangolins, and parts of pangolins, is not limited to Asian markets; as 

, pangolin products are also showing up in the U.S., and because the animals don't have the high profile of, for example, rhinos and elephants, their trade sometimes slips through the cracks. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has added 

 to its website for U.S. regulators.
"This listing will not only eradicate legal trade in pangolins, but will also reduce the illegal trade for which the U.S. is a significant destination and transshipment point," Pepper said.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Environmental News

Rebecca Hersher

Author

World leaders at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species agreed to ban all commercial trade in pangolins, small and endangered mammals that also resemble aardvarks.

Pangolin, the 'artichoke with legs,' earns top trade protection

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