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Petition to End the Vicious and Criminal Global Pangolin Trade!

The world's most trafficked mammal, the pangolin, is hurtling toward extinction while governments, particularly Nigeria, China, and Vietnam, shamefully allow criminals to plunder wildlife at unprecedented scales. Despite an international ban, pangolins continue to be butchered in their millions, their scales ripped away for Traditional Chinese Medicine and their flesh sold as grotesque luxury.

From 2022 onward, pangolin trafficking has surged again with reckless impunity. Criminal syndicates brazenly exploit weak laws and corrupt officials, with Nigeria emerging as the global epicentre of pangolin slaughter, openly facilitating shipments to insatiable markets in Vietnam and China. These nations know exactly where the scales come from, yet turn a blind eye, valuing corrupt commerce over wildlife preservation.

Chinese criminal syndicates bankroll these atrocities, profiting from the bloodbath that stretches from African forests to Asian black markets. Their sophisticated networks adapt quickly, corrupting port officials from Lagos to Haiphong and Hong Kong, and laughing in the face of half-hearted enforcement efforts. In January 2022 alone, Vietnamese authorities seized 6.2 tonnes of pangolin scales from a single shipment from Nigeria, evidence of systematic corruption and governmental negligence.

India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and even Hong Kong serve as complicit middlemen, laundering pangolin products through their ports. China, the ultimate consumer, hypocritically touts conservation efforts while openly allowing the "legal" use of pangolin scales from "stockpiles," conveniently enabling illegal scales to be laundered.

We must call out by name the Nigerian authorities, Vietnamese traffickers, and the Chinese government for facilitating, enabling, and profiting from this carnage. Nigerian Customs and government officials continue to enable organized crime by failing to consistently prosecute traffickers. China’s superficial bans mask continued rampant black-market trade openly operating in TCM centres across Guangxi, Guangdong, Bozhou, and Beijing.

Meanwhile, pangolin populations in Africa and Asia are collapsing. The ecological and human costs are enormous: communities lose vital ecosystems, violence escalates in poaching regions, and frontline wildlife defenders die confronting ruthless traffickers.

We demand immediate and uncompromising actions:

• Nigeria must aggressively prosecute traffickers, dismantle criminal networks, and end corruption in its customs and port authorities.
• China must permanently outlaw ALL use of pangolin scales in Traditional Medicine and transparently audit its scale stockpiles.
• Vietnam and transit countries must intensify border controls and publicly prosecute traffickers, imposing severe prison sentences.
• All implicated countries must cooperate internationally to destroy the supply chains and networks that sustain this vile trade.

Support organisations working tirelessly to save pangolins from extinction: Adopt https://www.bornfree.org.uk/adopt/pangolin/ or extend an adoption https://www.bornfree.org.uk/pangolin-renewal/

The extinction of pangolins will forever stain our generation unless drastic action is taken NOW. Join us in condemning the governments and criminals responsible for this wildlife genocide and demand immediate, tangible actions to stop it.