HK shops defy pangolin ban

Medicine alley: A woman walking past a shop on a street popular for dried foods used in traditional Chinese medicine and dishes in Hong Kong and a bag (inset) of deep-fried pangolin scales. — AFP

HONG KONG: On a winding Hong Kong street where shops keep a dizzying array of dried produce, one highly valued ingredient is still being sold despite being subject to an international ban: deep-fried scales of endangered pangolins.

The reclusive pangolin, also known as the scaly anteater, has become the most trafficked mammal on earth due to soaring demand in China and Vietnam.