World Animal Protection, has raised the alarm over what it described as the continued trafficking of pangolins across Africa, noting the development poses a threat to ecosystems.

In a statement on Friday, the organisation warned of broader health risks, adding African countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon and Nigeria, had become transit hubs in the global trade of pangolins.

“Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon and Nigeria are increasingly emerging as key source and transit hubs in the global trade of pangolins, the world’s most trafficked wild mammal.

“As the world marks World Pangolin Day 2026, World Animal Protection warns that trafficking networks operating across East, West and Central Africa are accelerating pressure on already declining pangolin populations, threatening ecosystems and exposing communities to broader public health risks,” said the animal rights organisation.

The organisation further expressed worry that more than one million pangolins were killed and traded between 2000 and 2013 contrary to intentional law which prohibits international commercial trade of the animals.

“Between 2010 and 2015 alone, authorities recorded 1,270 seizures across 67 countries and territories involving an estimated 120 tonnes of pangolin body parts and more than 46,000 individual carcasses,” WAP explained. “All eight pangolin species, four found in Asia and four in Africa are listed under Appendix I of CITES, which prohibits international commercial trade.”

The organisation said that despite lacking scientifically proven medicinal value, pangolin scales continued to fuel organised transnational trafficking networks, adding African countries had increasingly been identified in international enforcement reports as source and transit points in global trafficking routes supplying overseas markets.

It explained that the loss of pangolins “carries ecological consequences” and that a single pangolin “consumes thousands of ants and termites daily, helping regulate insect populations and maintain ecosystem balance”.

“Their slow reproductive rate makes population recovery difficult once numbers decline,” said WAP.

It announced an initiative aimed at generating scientific evidence to inform policy, supporting community-led pangolin protection, and engaging consumer countries in Asia to strengthen enforcement and demand reduction of pangolin scales.

Wildlife campaign manager, Edith Kabesiime, stated, “Pangolins are being hunted, trafficked and exploited at alarming levels. But there is hope. If we strengthen enforcement, empower communities, and reduce consumer demand of pangolin meat and scales, we can turn the tide.”