I was watching television a few weeks ago and stumbled across a documentary with an ominous sounding title “The World’s Most Wanted Animal”. This video is only available until June 20. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/worlds-wanted-animal-full-episode/16258/
Turns out this was an episode of the long running Nature series on PBS. It was an interesting story of a woman who moved to Namibia and started a sanctuary to save Pangolins. The show goes on to explore the black-market world of pangolin meat and scales. These markets are primarily centered in Asia. The main thesis of the show was that governments need to crack down on black-markets and poachers. The only thing that will save the pangolin is the perfect blend of laws, do-gooder virtue signaling and (this is the big one) changing hundreds of years of Asian culture, myth and tradition. Turns out pangolins are desired for their meat, scales and medicinal properties. They are even thought to be treatments for cancer. This has given rise to a thriving multimillion-dollar black market.
While I was watching this got me thinking about economist Walter Block. He makes the case for the privatization of everything. He explains in the linked video (44:00) that the reason the cow has, and will never, come close to extinction is that they are privately owned. However, the buffalo (American Bison) neared extinction. The tragedy of the commons strikes again. It appears we are repeating the same story with the pangolin.
I kept thinking “why don’t they farm them?”. Turns out this idea has been explored. A 2014 article from the UMass website titled USING PANGOLIN FARMS TO STABILIZE THE PANGOLIN POPULATION outlines how farming can bring the species back from the brink of extinction (although it misses the mark when it comes to economics, more on this later).
https://blogs.umass.edu/natsci397a-eross/using-pangolin-farms-to-stabilize-the-pangolin-population/
Stop Trying to Help!
The PBS documentary highlighted the seizure of hundreds of thousands of pangolin scales and thousands of pounds of meat and whole animals. They simultaneously criticize the market for the rising price of these items. Not realizing that the seizures by customs officials and subsequent loss of supply are contributing to the rising costs. The supply reduction, coupled with the increased demand, will attract new poachers and increase the trafficking. This provides increased economic incentive to people to enter the pangolin trade. Even the smarty pants at UMass need an economics lesson. They explain that “Although the pangolins are rising in price there has still been a continuation of the capturing and illegal trafficking of these animals.” This completely misses the mark. The black market is not thriving despite the rising price, it is thriving because off it. The documentary even touches on how poor Africans from rural villages are making money hunting pangolins because it provides a viable way to provide for their families.
more to come...