A shop in Laos is dark. The door is open. Few customers walk in. People come by appointment only. This shop sells illegal things. It is part of a crime network. It looks like a gift shop. It has tea and cigarettes on shelves. The walls have photos of wild animals. These photos give a clue about the real products. Upstairs, glass cases hold banned items. Some items are ivory bracelets. Some items are ivory chopsticks. A crocodile skin hangs on the wall. Reptile-skin belts sit on a shelf. Some products are hard to identify. Large bones sit in bags. Powder fills some containers. A glass tank holds liquid. A mammal skeleton sits in a case.
The Guardian visited many shops in Laos. Some shops look like cigarette shops. Some shops look like cultural centers. Chinese tourists visit these shops. The shops have strong gates and cameras. Videos on Chinese social media show tourists buying illegal things. The videos show tourists eating pangolin meat. Pangolin scales go into serving bowls. These scales look like leaves or shells. The scales drive this mammal toward extinction.
One million pangolins have been killed in ten years. This number is very high. Pangolins are the most traded animal in the world. They have keratin scales on their bodies. They curl into a ball when danger comes. This makes them easy to catch. Jeremy Phan works with wildlife in Laos. He says pangolins now appear in the city. This is very unusual. Two years ago, no pangolins were in the city. Now they appear more and more.