Photo by: Choy Tsai/The Reporter

根據國際野生物貿易調查委員會（TRAFFIC）統計，過去10年，有100萬隻穿山甲遭盜獵，數量已被國際自然保育聯盟列為「極危」等級，下一個階段就是野外滅絕。

而台灣，極可能是穿山甲最後的保育基地。根據屏東科技大學研究，台灣穿山甲野外族群密度可能是全世界最高。很難想像，僅僅在半個世紀以前，台灣每年出口6萬張穿山甲皮革，幾乎讓穿山甲絕跡。這50年來，台灣如何從野生動物地獄，搖身一變成為穿山甲最後淨土？

全文請見此: 從年出口6萬張穿山甲皮，到保育模範生——台灣穿山甲保育之路

Taiwan’s Path to Pangolin Conservation – How a Mega Pangolin Scale Exporter Transformed into a Conservation Specialist

According to the Trade Record Analysis of Flora & Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC), one million pangolins have been illegally trafficked in the past decade. The International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed pangolins on its Red List of Threatened Species, meaning that they’re now threatened with extinction.

Taiwan will likely be the last conservation ground for pangolins. Wild pangolin population has the highest density in Taiwan, according to a study conducted by the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. Just half a century ago, Taiwan was exporting 60,000 pangolin skins per year, almost pushing the entire species to extinction. In the past fifty years, how did Taiwan transform itself from a hell for wildlife animals to the world’s last safe haven for pangolins?

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