Who are the users of pagolins?
Pangolins are hunted in Viet Nam for the domestic and international trade of pangolin products, however Viet Nam is also a transit route for pangolins imported from throughout Asia and Africa to be re-exported to countries such as China.
In reality, pangolin products are believed to cure cancer; reduce fever; increase breast milk and enhance sexual performance.
The following infographic shows more about the users and the purposes of using pangolin products:
Pangolins are considered to spread corona virus to humans
Although the origins of corona virus are currently unproven, there are strong indications of a wild animal source and a direct link to wildlife trade in China. Specifically, a significant proportion of early cases in China involved people who had worked at or visited a market in Wuhan where wild animals were on sale and initial research results pointed to a possible transmission pathway from bats via pangolins to people.
Even if indications of this link prove in future to be mistaken, the COVID-19 outbreak has attracted strong attention to a growing number of examples of wildlife-sourced diseases emerging as important human health concerns in recent decades. For many of these examples, there are strong indications of diseases transmission links to trade and consumption of wild animal species. In light of initial evidence of the origins of COVID-19, China introduced emergency measures in February 2020 restricting wild animal trade and consumption. Viet Nam and other countries are considering similar emergency responses. A wide range of organisations and public voices are calling for strong permanent prohibitions on wild animal trade to reduce risks to human health.
More about the links between wildlife trade and zoonotic diseases at this link: https://www.traffic.org/site/assets/files/12764/covid-19-briefing-vfinal.pdf
What are we doing?
Intelligentmedia works with the Vietnamese government agencies, stakeholders, private sectors, communities and others to implement activities focusing on tackling the use of illegal wildlife products for traditional medicine (TM) purposes and to reduce threats of zoonotic diseases. Species will be included but not limited to tiger, pangolin, elephant, rhino - in terms of zoonotic disease we can consider reducing the demand of consuming wildlife as pets. We call on organizations, individuals and donors to join hands with us in this fight to deal with the risks of global pandemics that can be caused by wildlife trade and usage.