The population of the Indian pangolin has drastically plummeted in Pakistan due to a variety of factors, mainly poaching, illegal trade, habitat loss, retaliatory killings and climate change.
The Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) is the only pangolin species found in South Asian countries. It is classified as endangered on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with a declining population trend.
On the eve of World Pangolin Day, observed on the third Saturday in February, the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan) called for urgent steps to save the declining population of the endangered species.
In Pakistan, particularly in the northeastern Potohar region, the species has disappeared from 80% of its former range, the WWF said Friday in a statement.
While exact population estimates are challenging to determine, the overall population has drastically declined. According to the IUCN, other population models predict that the global Indian pangolin population may decrease by approximately 50% in the next 20 years.
Karachi, the country's commercial capital, is the hub of the illegal trade in the species.
Several cases of confiscation of pangolin scales and body parts have been reported in the city.
Studies indicate that Pakistan is a transit route for the international smuggling of pangolin scales, primarily to China and Southeast Asia.
To save the pangolin population, WWF-Pakistan proposed penalties for poaching and illegal trade should be increased.
Speaking about the significance of the species, Muhammad Jamshed Iqbal Chaudhry, senior manager of research and conservation at WWF-Pakistan, said proposed reforestation projects and protection of pangolin habitats in key regions like the Potohar Plateau, Margalla Hills and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
"Scientific studies to assess pangolin population trends and distribution in Pakistan should be conducted," he added.
Currently, WWF-Pakistan is working on pangolin conservation with the "Saving the Pangolin of Pakistan” project being implemented in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A Pangolin Protection Zone, enforced with community-based watch and ward, is being established in the southern districts of the same province.
