Pangolins do not survive well in captivity. In fact, when seized by border authorities, their rescue often turns into a death sentence. But when a local NGO in China tried to save a handful of these seized pangolins by releasing them back into the wild, it stirred up a storm of controversy. Why is saving the pangolins such a thorny issue? Will the Chinese government’s recent ban on the trade and consumption of wildlife meat – a response to the coronavirus outbreak – do more to help these embattled, scaly mammals? What else can we do to stop their rapid disappearance?

Guests:

Kunda Dixit, Nepali Times

Wahyu Dhyatmika, Tempo.co

Elroi Yee, R.AGE Malaysia

Sophia Zhang, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation

Xu Jiaming, the Pangolin Reports

Dr Tim Bonebrake, The University of Hong Kong

Astrid Andersson, The University of Hong Kong

Wander Meijer, Globescan

Production credits:

Executive producer and host: Marcy Trent Long

Producer and host: Bonnie Au

Assistant producer: Amber Hou

Sound engineer: Chris Wood

Intro/outro music: Alex Mauboussin

Teaching Guide for Educators here

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Transcripts in Mandarin and English at chinadialogue and chinadialogueocean.