By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
The Liberian government through the Forestry Development Authority has re-affirmed its commitment to the fight against the capturing, the marketing and eating of pangolin in any part of the world,
The Wildlife Consultant at the Forestry Development Authority, Edward, Gbeintor, added that about one million of ant’s bags have been extracted from the wild life in African and Asian countries to meet the high demand for uses of different medicines and meals.
Mr. Gbeintor was speaking at a program marking the observance of the world pangolin day organized by the Forestry Development Authority and partners in Paynesville over the weekend.
Participants attending the program
According to him, each year, the world pangolin day is observed annually to raise awareness and recommit local and international organizations to the fight against the global harvesting of pangolins.
He said: “The day is an opportunity for pangolin enthusiasts and the wider human community to join hands in raising awareness about the plight of these animals because pangolin numbers are rapidly declining in Asia and Africa.”
“Pangolins are a highly prized commodity,” he went on, “often illegally trapped, killed and trafficked for its scale by organized criminal network on a large scale to serve the need of the traditional medicine market in Asia where pangolin scales are unfortunately believed to be cure-all of sorts and pangolin flesh is considered to be delicate.”
Gbeintor indicated that from 2016 t0 2019, an estimated 206.4 ton of pangolin scales or an equivalent of about 360,000 pangolins were intercepted and confiscated from 52 seizures , according to a report by the Wildlife Justice Commission, an international foundation set up with the mission to disrupt and dismantle organized transnational criminal wildlife trading networks.
“In Liberia, between 2015 and up to the present, the Wildlife Division of the FDA has arrested three large suit cases amounting to about 300 kilograms and was confiscated from the James Springs Air Field and one of the culprits, a foreign national was later deported.”
In remarks, the Executive Director of the Libiassa Wildlife Sanctuary, Susan Wiper, disclosed that since her organization started working with the FDA , 71 pangolins have been rescued and 47 released in to the wild.
She expressed the hope that her organization will work tirelessly to stop the current culture of hunting, killing and eating ants’ bags in Liberia and the rest of the world. .
According to her, in Liberia, half of the population of pangolins lives within 2.5kilo meters of a forest and many rely on it for their homes and livelihoods.
Madam Wider described pangolins are as guardian of the forest because they protect it from being destroyed by termites by eating them and helping to maintain a balance ecosystem.
“One pangolin can protect 41 acres of land or about 31 football fields by eating up 200,000 termites a day and 70 million a year,” she said; adding: “if there is no pangolin , the forest could be destroyed by ants and termites.”
In remarks, Kate Thompson of the United Kingdom Embassy said her government is working with Environmental Protection Agency in protecting the biodiversity considering that her country is the president of Conference of the Parties ((COP) 26, is a conference of world leaders meeting to save the planet .
According to her, about one million species are facing extinction and there is a need for world leaders to work together to put an end by 2050.
Madam Thompson praised the efforts by the Liberian government is playing in protecting species in the wild and expressed appreciation for President George Weah taking the lead.
The program, which brought together large number of people, was graced by representatives of the United Kingdom, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the European Union, Environmental Protection Agency, among others.