Ship’s crew arrested as endangered species meat found

A CHINESE vessel that ran into a protected coral reef off the south-western Philippines was carrying more than 10,000kg of meat from a protected species, the pangolin or scaly ant eater.

The steel-hulled vessel hit an atoll on 8 April at the Tubbataha National Marine Park, a World Heritage Site, on Palawan island.

Philippines coast guard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo revealed yesterday that 400 boxes, each containing 25kg-30kg of frozen pangolins, were discovered during a second inspection of the boat on Saturday.

The World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines said the Chinese vessel could have been carrying up to 2,000 of the toothless, insect-eating animals, which were found rolled up in the boxes, with their scales already removed.

WWF Philippines chief executive officer Jose Lorenzo Tan said: “It is bad enough that the Chinese have illegally entered our seas, navigated without boat papers and crashed recklessly into a national marine park and World Heritage Site. It is simply deplorable that they appear to be posing as fishermen to trade in illegal wildlife.”

The boat’s 12 Chinese crew are being detained on charges of poaching and attempted bribery, said the marine park’s lawyer. More charges are being prepared, including damaging the corals and being found in possession of the pangolin meat.

It is not yet clear which of the four Asian pangolin species the meat comes from. Two are endangered, the others deemed “near threatened”.

The animals are protected in many Asian nations, and an international ban on their trade has been in effect since 2002, but illicit trade continues. The meat and scales of the pangolin fetch hundreds of dollars per kilo in China, where many believe they cure various ailments.