Customs staff check seized pangolin scales in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Nov 29, 2017. [Photo/Chinanews.com] Customs officials in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, announced on Wednesday that they had intercepted 11.9 metric tons of pangolin scales smuggled from Africa, the largest volume of any single case found by border inspectors. The scales were taken from an estimated 20,000 pangolins, a species listed last year in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, which bans all international trading of pangolins and their products. Two suspects in the case, one surnamed Li from Shandong province and another, He, from Anhui province, were the subjects of arrest warrants, according to Chen Qunfang, deputy chief of Dapeng Customs, which is affiliated with the Shenzhen authorities. The case arose in July when customs officers found bags stuffed with charcoal in a container that had been declared as empty at Yantian port. The charcoal was used to cover 239 bags of pangolin scales. Lacking full information from the shipping parties on the bill of lading, customs officers spent a lot of time identifying the suspects, Chen said. Li and He were found to have made frequent money transfers totaling more than 5 million yuan ($758,000) around the time the case came to light. During an interrogation, He admitted that he helped smuggle the pangolin scales at the request of Li, officers said. Demand exists in China for pangolin scales as a food or as a traditional Chinese medicine ingredient, Chen said. Bozhou, Anhui province - He's native province - is home to one of the country's largest herbal medicine markets. The low cost of procuring pangolin scales overseas, especially from Africa, has made the illegal trade highly profitable, Chen said. The scales will be destroyed after the trial concludes. [email protected]the wristband factorycheap silicone wristbands ukcustom silicone bandswellies and wristbands 2017wristband keychaincustom sweatbands no minimum
Workers carry an adult alligator from a feeding pool. [Wu Fang/China Daily] On November 27, about 10,000 Chinese alligators were moved from outdoor feeding pools to their winter home at the National Chinese Alligator Natural Reserve in Xuancheng, a city in the eastern province of Anhui. The reptiles, a Class I protected species that is endemic to East China, are coldblooded, so their metabolism and activity slow during winter, making them easier to handle. The animals, which are also known as Yangtze alligators, will eventually hibernate until spring, when they will be taken back to the outdoor pools. The reserve, which has been based in the suburbs of Xuancheng since the 1980s, is home to more than 15,000 Chinese alligators, including newly hatched reptiles. It is the world's largest breeding center for the species. There are many human-bred Chinese alligators, but in the wild they are on the verge of extinction. There are barely 300 individuals, including some that were born in captivity, but later released into natural surroundings, said Wang Renping, head of the center's information department. Though the center has made a great contribution to preserving the species from extinction, challenges remain, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified Chinese alligators as critically endangered. International attention In November, four alligators bred at the center in Xuancheng were taken to Shizuoka, a city on Japan's Pacific coast. They were the first to be sent overseas since 2006, when the practice was suspended because the center was in the process of changing its name and was therefore unable to obtain export certificates. To the best of our knowledge, the first Chinese alligators to be exported were sent to the United States in the 1950s, Wang said, adding that the reptiles were sent by the former Soviet Union because China and the US had not yet established diplomatic relations. Sun Siqing, director of the industrialization office at the breeding research center, which is based in the national reserve, said: Many zoos around the world are waiting for alligators bred at the center. Though the export of wild Chinese alligators is absolutely prohibited, exports of human-bred ones have been allowed since the 1980s. Sun's department is responsible for large-scale breeding programs, the administration of tourism at the center, and exports, which are considered vital to helping the outside world learn more about the species. In 1973, the International Union for Conservation of Nature added Chinese alligators to its Red List of Threatened Species. The animal's status as critically endangered means it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As the most comprehensive inventory of conservation status, the list provides scientific information about species and subspecies at a global level. It is also aimed at drawing attention to the magnitude and importance of threatened biodiversity, influencing national and international policies and decision-making, and providing information to guide actions to conserve biological diversity, according to the organization's website.
