The title is a bit wrong. Should read âThe Chinese are eating a scaly anteater into extinction.â
What I donât understand about the trade in endangered species is - why donât people just create counterfeit versions of this stuff? Ok, not very easy with a pangolin fetus (gag), but for things like powdered rhino horn, itâs hard to understand why youâd go through the trouble of actually killing rhinos when you could quite profitably manufacture simulated rhino horn and rake in the cash. The fact that this apparently doesnât occur must mean that the sellers actually believe in this stuff, which is surprising.
God damn it.
Weâre grownups, we can handle the term âpangolinâ.
How could you possibly think that Rhino Horn and the like is the only stuff that the Chinese wonât counterfeit?
I mean, Jesus, they have a counterfeit egg problem!
I am sure lots of animal parts are fake, but the top tier stuff is real. Is the larger issue maybe that Chinese Healthcare is in need of reform?
Seems like a good response to this would be for some enterprising social entrepreneur to flood the market with counterfeit animal parts while simultaneously publicizing the fact that you probably arenât really getting rhino horn / pangolin scale / whatever - so why bother?
Aww, my college mascot was a pangolin. It was a very small college, and the only team was fencing. But still.
You have to admit it: they look delicious.
Oh whatâs the harm? So people want to explore alternative medicines, big deal. You know western medicine doesnât understand everything. The people taking it are reporting that they feel better or can get erections easier or whatever, so why should we stop them? It is probably less harmful to them than the so called medicines that they would get from big pharma.
EDIT: I apologize, I thought the sarcasm would be evident. I canât tell you how often I hear the above arguments when I talk about TCM or other alternative medicine. This is clearly one of the harms of ignoring science and going with kooky alternatives.
I think that (unfortunately) change for a culture has to come at least partially from within. It makes no sense to speak from outside and say, âDonât live that way because we donât choose to do so.â Even if your arguments are valid (donât kill all the animals, theyâll be gone) they still may not be heard.
The person quoted in the article was actually a British zoologist, and the IUCN is through the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Iâm sure theyâre working with locals to change perceptions, but really a local voice to bring up outcry in China is needed if they want many sympathetic ears.
China may be improving. They already had a ban on endangered species, and in May they extended the prison time for breaking the law to 10 years - both for trafficking and consuming the product. (Farmed flesh is totally fine.) The only question is whether or not theyâll enforce - they didnât before.
Hereâs another link to the IUCN, and pangolins. Hereâs a page on Prof. John Baillie.
How is it wrong? The Chinese are representatives of humanity, just like Israel/Hamas, or the Ukraine rebels and Russia. Just because the United States didnât play a part in driving this species to extinction, doesnât exactly make up for a species being driven to extinction by humanity. Especially when it isnât like we can do absolutely nothing to stop the Chinese. We are one species and its a small world, our terrible deeds shame us all.
Good. Keep eating them, humans. 
YesâChinese humans. We canât just wash our hands of this by blaming the Giant Pandas.
âHumans bombing the Gaza Stripâ
âHumans committed the Holocaustâ
âHumans responsible for whalingâ
âHumans responsible for Armenian Genocideâ
âHumans responsible for drone strike causalitiesâ
Do you agree with these headlines? After all, humans are behind these atrocities, and we are one species and its a small world, our terrible deeds shame us all.
Or you are omitting that the Chinese aspect of this story in order to not sound racist. Alternative/Chinese medicine is fucking stupid and the leading reason behind poaching. Why not give them a little heat that rhino horns isnât going to cure their impotence?
Especially when it isnât like we can do absolutely nothing to stop the Chinese.
Okay. Lets shoulder all the guilt for these poaching endangered animals. When Steve gets an ulcer over it, every Chinese person who practices Chinese Medicine will realize their wrong doing and cease their demand for pangolian shells and tiger dicks.
You damn well know those Giant Pandaâs blood thirst cannot be sated.
Luckily not everybody is into artichokes.
The article mentions Indonesia, Vietnam, India, and Zimbabwe in addition to China. So, no that is not what the title should read. (Not to mention the high probability that people consume pangolin in countries not stated in the article.)
I get the impression that itâs the guilt by association which is bothering @friendlysoviet. So perhaps the headline should just read
Humans are eating a scaly anteater into extinction, but NOT @friendlysoviet because he is pure of heart and would never harm such a majestic creature
I donât understand why these sorts of trades donât make the effort to farm the animals they consume.
