Evaluating the feasibility of pangolin farming and its potential conservation impact

Challender, Daniel W.S.; Sas‐Rolfes, Michael ’t; Ades, Gary; Chin, Jason Shih-Chien; Sun, Nick Ching‐Min; Chong, Ju Lian; Connelly, Ellen; Hywood, Lisa; Luz, Sonja; Mohapatra, Rajesh Kumar; Ornellas, Paul de; Parker, Keri; Pietersen, Darren William; Roberton, Scott; Semiadi, Gono; Shaw, Debbie; Shepherd, Chris R.; Thomson, Paul; Wang, Yifu; Wicker, Leanne; Wu, Shi Bao; Nash, Helen C.

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00714

Cited by 40 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The species legalized for commercial farming and trade include not only those on the 54-species List for which there are relatively abundant, exploitable farmed specimens, but also the state-protected and CITES-listed species -e.g., leopard, saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica), and rare snake species -for which captive breeding is not viable at the commercial level (Xiao et al, 2018;Challender et al, 2019a) and their supply is reliant on stockpiles and wild extraction from within China and abroad (NFGA et al, 2007).…”

Section: China's Wildlife Farming and Trading Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

China’s Conservation Strategy Must Reconcile Its Contemporary Wildlife Use and Trade Practices

Jiao

Lee

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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China’s supply-side conservation efforts in the past decades have led to two bewildering juxtapositions: a rapidly expanding farming industry vs. overexploitation, which remains one of the main threats to Chinese vertebrates. COVID-19 was also the second large-scale zoonotic disease outbreak since the 2002 SARS. Here, we reflect on China’s supply-side conservation strategy by examining its policies, laws, and practices concerning wildlife protection and utilization, and identify the unintended consequences that likely have undermined this strategy and made it ineffective in protecting threatened wildlife and preventing zoonotic diseases. We call for China to overhaul its conservation strategy to limit and phase out risky and unsustainable utilization, while improving legislation and enforcement to establish full chain-of-custody regulation over existing utilization.

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Section: China's Wildlife Farming and Trading Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

China’s Conservation Strategy Must Reconcile Its Contemporary Wildlife Use and Trade Practices

Jiao

Lee

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…It is rare for these criteria to be met [ 1 , 14 ]. Often, dual markets develop for wild-caught and farmed products [ 3 ], as consumers tend to prefer and be willing to pay more for wild-caught wildlife [ 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildlife Farms, Stigma and Harm

Rizzolo

2020

Animals

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Wildlife farming, the commercial breeding and legal sale of non-domesticated species, is an increasingly prevalent, persistently controversial, and understudied conservation practice. The adoption or rejection of wildlife farms is a complex process that incorporates numerous ethical considerations: conservation, livelihoods, animal welfare, and cultural practices. This paper uses qualitative interview data with key informants (academics) to analyze (a) the harms and benefits of wildlife farms and (b) the factors that influence whether wildlife farms are stigmatized or accepted. In evaluations of wildlife farming’s harms and benefits, respondents incorporated multiple considerations: animal welfare, environmental impacts, scale disparities between sustenance and commercial farms, consumer preferences, species differences, the substitutability and accessibility of wildlife products, and governance. The results further indicated that the stigmatization or acceptance of wildlife farms is affected by the “wildlife farm” label, if there is a stigma around use of a species, a form of production, or the perceived quality of a wildlife product, cultural differences in wildlife use, wildlife consumer typology, geopolitical factors, and demand reduction efforts. This paper analyzes the complexities of wildlife farming such that stakeholders can understand the impacts of this practice on species, human communities, individual animals, and the legal and illegal wildlife trades.

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“…Much of the scepticism toward endangered species farming comes from studies examining controversial species and those that are challenging to rear, such as tigers and pangolins (Challender et al., ; Kirkpatrick & Emerton ). In these cases, farming can be expensive—often significantly more expensive than poaching.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Looking to aquatic species for conservation farming success

Gentry

Gaines

Gabe

et al. 2019

CONSERVATION LETTERS

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Thousands of species worldwide are threatened with extinction due to human activities. For some animals, such as elephants, totoaba, and bluefin tuna, population declines are largely driven by hunting. High prices and large profits create a strong incentive for illegal hunting, even in the face of penalties and strict international restrictions against trade. One innovative solution to help reverse the declines of such species is to farm them to increase supply, thereby reducing prices and decreasing hunting incentives. However, this idea has been criticized as impractical, though some examples exist of successful implementation. Here, we evaluate the hurdles facing endangered species farming as a market‐based mechanism to reduce illegal harvest of wild populations and provide guidance on when it is most likely to be effective. Using a simple model, we show how farming costs and enforcement of anti‐poaching measures are key drivers of success for this solution. We also argue that many of the most promising candidates are aquatic species that have been largely overlooked. Thus, while conservation farming may not be a solution for all endangered species, it should be more seriously considered for species that could be produced quickly and cost‐effectively.

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Evaluating the feasibility of pangolin farming and its potential conservation impact

Cited by 40 publications

References 45 publications

China’s Conservation Strategy Must Reconcile Its Contemporary Wildlife Use and Trade Practices

China’s Conservation Strategy Must Reconcile Its Contemporary Wildlife Use and Trade Practices

Wildlife Farms, Stigma and Harm

Looking to aquatic species for conservation farming success

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