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Coast Guard asks Palawan folk for info on alleged anteater trade


The Philippine Coast Guard on Thursday appealed to Palawan folk to help it get to the bottom of the supposed anteater trade, after the discovery of frozen anteaters in a Chinese vessel that ran aground at Tubbataha Reef April 8. Coast Guard Palawan head Commodore Enrico Evangelista said information residents provide can help the agency protect endangered species like the anteaters (pangolin in Palawan), radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported. Evangelista said information on who are behind the trade of the endangered species, who are the ones catching the anteaters, and who are acting as middlemen would be of big help. Authorities suspect a trade of sorts involving the endangered species is going on with the discovery of 400 boxes of frozen anteaters in the cargo hold of a Chinese fishing vessel that ran aground on Tubbataha Reef. While the anteaters are considered an endangered species in the Philippines, they are considered by some Chinese as a delicacy and as medicine. Last April 8, the Chinese vessel ran aground at the reef, three months after the minesweeper USS Guardian of the US Navy ran aground last Jan. 17. The USS Guardian was eventually cut up and removed from the area, with the salvage work on it being completed only last March 30. In the April 8 incident, the 12 Chinese aboard the fishing vessel have been charged for poaching and attempting to bribe park rangers. They are detained at the Palawan provincial jail. — LBG, GMA News

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