Persuasive Speech: The Future of Pangolins

PERSUASIVE SPEECH

INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CONFERENCE

SPEAKER: Ginette Hemley - Senior Vice President, Wildlife Conservation of WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)

The impact that humans have had on wildlife has been a problem for a long time. We as a civilization have been presented with feasible solutions, but changing the attitude of one cannot always affect a change in many. Animals are like the children of nature, just as we are the children of evolution. Poaching is defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Pangolins can tell you that it is more than that. The examples given to us to educate us on its effects have been scientific thus far. It is information we understand, the statistics that educate us on the decline of their existence and the vivid stream of media of how these animals are treated not been enough for us to understand the effects we have on the environment and the future of this world.

So many of you do not know that such an animal exists, and it could be due to its demure nature, the lack of exposure it has as compared to an elephant or rhinoceros. Pangolins or scaly anteaters, they are about the size of a golden retriever puppy, their scales are used as a protective armour. When they sense impending danger they ball up to protect themselves. They are not present in today's conversations in wildlife preservation enough that there is a wide social media presence on what we are doing to these animals.

So I am going to put it to you in a way that most humans can understand. Sometimes, the hard truth is a tough pill to swallow and we have heard that if we don’t change what we are doing now the damage we have caused is irreversible. On April 10th, thirty six thousand children of nature were, the mass of scales were seized in Singapore. There were tons of scales found in a shipping container in blood stained bags under the guise of beef. The amount of scales they found belonged to a total of thirty-six thousand Pangolins, fourteen thousand tons of scales. Aside from talking about the unimaginable amount of torture they went through during the scale extraction, the issue is that there are beings that are able to inflict such pain on innocents. Pangolins are inching towards extinction closer everyday as long as poaching is not more strongly monitored and reprimanded. If the scales were equated to something humans produce, like teeth, why is that harder to digest?

There is a frightening insensitivity towards these innocent creatures and the best time to save what we have left is now. Pangolins are being driven to extinction just like dinosaurs, we have been living in a world where dinosaurs are glorified and bones are being preserved and admired, we should want a different fate for Pangolins, we cannot allow Pangolins to be the dinosaurs of our generation. A whole generation of humans will have to carry our sins if we do not change how these animals are treated now.

Our goal is to increase the awareness and to continuously educate the world on what these creatures are and what they are going through, to be the voice for them. To shed a light not only on the issue but to shift all eyes to the people who are responsible for these unjustifiable killings. These acts are being carried out in countries with little to no enforcement on the punishment of poaching and trafficking. It is our responsibility to build a better world for these animals, our purpose as a planet consists of different species, is it not right to live cohesively?

We strongly believe we cannot allow these animals to die based on the false beliefs that their scales possess healing capabilities that have not even been proven. Pangolins originate in native parts of Africa and Asia and the reason for the poaching is because in China and Vietnam, where most buyers live, several segments of the black market consider them desirable. For a long time cracking down on the illicit global trade of exotic wildlife. The conservation cause suffers from a lack of public awareness; yet, the more people know about Pangolins, the more popular they become. And when animals become popular, business booms for poachers and smugglers. But the after effects of poaching are not talked about as much as it should.

We need people of power, influencers to inform the world about these innocent creatures and where they stand. In a few years from now these animals could be driven to extinction. That is what the world needs to know, we cannot allow their death to be silenced thus enabling the poachers to carry out their ghastly jobs. We must help the animal that does not have size, strength or a voice. Just like a bully on the playground picking on what they deem is the weakest child, we need heroes of our world to stand up and advocate for these fearful animals.

Pangolins go through a tiered amount of consumption, their scales for Chinese medicine and restaurants buy Pangolin meat, which is considered a delicacy, an off-menu item that a well-heeled customer might order when trying to impress. Those seeking the new cure-all buy scales, which are used in traditional medicine to treat everything from rheumatism to cancer, even though there is no known science that supports their remedial properties. And the fashion industry has shown interest in the skin, its diamond pattern making for an attractive leather design. It’s scale-to-tail consumption.

So let’s start now, start with today, share their story on social media, talk about it so that it obtains enough virality that the people who can stop it will not be given any other option than to take action. Be the change you want to see tomorrow, in their lives, in your lives and the future of the planet we’ve inhibited that we call home.