Ethnomedicinal use of African pangolins by traditional medical practitioners in Sierra Leone

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine

Raymond Jansen¹  Desiré L Dalton²  Antoinette Kotzé²  Darren W Pietersen¹  Maxwell K Boakye³ 

[1] African Pangolin Working Group (APWG), P/Bag X680, Pretoria, South Africa;Department of Genetics, University of the Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa;Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, P/Bag X680, Pretoria 0001, South Africa

关键词: Sierre Leone;    Conservation;    Spiritual ailments;    Pangolin body parts;    Pangolin scales;   

Others  :  1135992
DOI  :  10.1186/1746-4269-10-76

 received in 2014-09-03, accepted in 2014-11-01,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Pangolins (Manidae) have long been used for traditional medicinal purposes in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. However, very little is known about the extent of this use, the body parts that are used and the ailments these practices are attempting to cure or alleviate. Pangolin body parts are used extensively and frequently by traditional medical practitioners in Sierra Leone.

Methods

A total of 63 traditional medical practitioners consented and were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires on the traditional medicinal use of pangolin body parts. The use value, informant agreement ratio and use agreement value for each pangolin part was calculated to ascertain the most sought after body part, the level of knowledge dissemination among traditional medical practitioners about body parts and the most culturally significant body part.

Results

It was found that 22 pangolin parts are used to treat various ailments and conditions under 17 international categories of diseases. The highest use value was recorded for scales while eyes had the highest level of consensus among the traditional medical practitioners. The highest use value and informant agreement ratio for scales were recorded for spiritual ailments. Scales were the most culturally significant body part according to the use agreement value.

Conclusion

This study indicates a high importance value for pangolins as part of these communities’ spiritual, cultural and medicinal beliefs. However, the numbers of individuals harvested from the wild remains unknown and unregulated even though pangolins have been listed under Schedule 2 of the Wildlife Conservation Act, 1972, of Sierra Leone, which prohibits any person from hunting or being in possession of pangolins. It is likely that this unregulated harvesting and poaching of this threatened species, for medicinal purposes, is unsustainable and there is an urgent need to determine pangolin population abundance within this region to ensure their sustainable harvesting for cultural use and conservation.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Boakye et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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