Conservation efforts yielding: Report reveals price of pangolin scales sinking in Cameroon.

Going by the report, market data shows the price of pangolin scales has fallen by half or more in Cameroon within the last five years. 

WildAid asserted that the data was compiled by the wildlife law enforcement group Last Great Ape, LAGA. It further detailed that the figures show declines of between 45% and 75% in the average prices of scales for all three species of pangolin found in Cameroon, in both rural and urban areas, between 2020 and 2025. 

“That has coincided with evidence of a fall in demand from China and more effective domestic law enforcement, offering new hope in saving these shy, endangered animals from extinction,” the report stated. 

Drop in demand for pangolin meat

Thanks to the contribution of Chinese government in discouraging the consumption of pangolin products and the use of scales in traditional medicine, WildAid observed that there has been decline in demand for pangolin meat, scales, and wine in China.

Citing LAGA’s head of investigations, Gilbert Atem, the report said Chinese buying has also fell in Cameroon after a series of arrests of international traffickers and the seizures of many tons of pangolin scales in separate investigations between 2017 and 2019.

“Demand for pangolin scales in Asia has fuelled the poaching of all eight pangolin species found in Asia and Africa, earning pangolin the unhappy distinction of becoming the most heavily trafficked wild mammal on the planet,” it said. 

A 2023 DNA analysis showed that most of the pangolin scales found in shipments seized in Asia between 2012 and 2018 originated from Cameroon, especially from the south of the country. 

“At the end of 2024, China announced a new policy strictly controlling the use of pangolin scales in medicine. Around the same time, the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine announced the removal of 13 patented medicines containing pangolin scales from the 2025 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopeia, the country’s official compendium of approved medicines,” the WildAid report said. 

The decision, going by the report, indicates that these medicines no longer meet official criteria for safety, efficacy, or ethical acceptability, discouraging healthcare providers from using them. 

But in Cameroon, pangolins are hunted both for their meat and their scales, with significant consumption of pangolin meat observed in towns and cities, driving an unsustainable commercial trade.  

In this light, WildAid has been working in Cameroon to raise awareness of the threats facing pangolins and reduce urban demand for pangolin meat since 2022. 

A WildAid survey, in 2024, found a 27% decline in the number of people who said they consume pangolin meat at least once a month in Yaoundé, Douala, Ebolowa, and Mbalmayo compared to 2022. 

The government has stepped up the fight, passing a new forestry and wildlife law in 2024 that sharply increased the penalties for slaughtering, capturing, keeping, or marketing Class A protected animals, including pangolins. Fines of up to 50 million francs ($89,000 USD) and prison sentences of up to 20 years can now be imposed. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3622 of Wednesday November 12, 2025