Fabulous reads – Plight of the pangolin highlighted

Pangolins – Scales of Injustice, Richard Peirce, Penguin Random House, ePub ISBN: 9781775847137

PANGOLINS have been sustainably harvested by local communities for their meat and scales for a long time, but the burgeoning trade in these mammals has reached a crisis point.

Eight pangolin species occur worldwide, four in Asia and four in Africa, and they all face extinction if the current rate of hunting and trading continue unabated.

The spotlight is now on the world’s most trafficked mammal. Scientists have identified pangolins as the likely source of the coronavirus infection that brought the world to its knees. This multi-trillion dollar disaster makes pangolins the most expensive meals ever eaten.

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In this timely exposé, Richard Peirce unpacks the horrors and dangers of the trade in this enigmatic, little-known mammal. He explains the links between wildlife and Covid-19, and details China’s response to the pandemic. He also tells the story of a particular pangolin poached in Zimbabwe and brought to South Africa to be traded. Readers accompany an agent of the African Pangolin Working Group, assisted by the local police, on an actual sting operation to rescue the animal and capture the traffickers.

The book also follows the subsequent progress of the rescued pangolin, from near death to rehabilitation and release into the wild. Richard Peirce is best known as a shark conservationist and was the former chairman of the Shark Conservation Society and the Shark Trust.

A committed environmental activist, he has authored several books, including Orca (apex predators), Giant Steps (elephants), Cuddle Me Kill Me (canned lion hunting), Nicole (about a shark’s marathon journey) and The Poacher’s Moon (rhinos).

The fully illustrated print edition will be launched on World Pangolin Day, 21 February, in 2021 (ISBN: 9781775847120).

Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting

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