The illegal hunting and exploitation of porcupines for meat and medicine in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia is home to five species of porcupines, three of which are island endemics. While all five species are currently assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, impacts of harvest and trade have not been factored in. To gain a fuller understanding of the porcupine trade in Indonesia, this study examines seizure data of porcupines, their parts and derivatives from January 2013 to June 2020. A total of 39 incidents were obtained amounting to an estimated 452 porcupines. Various confiscated commodities revealed porcupines are traded for consumption, traditional medicine, trophies/charms as well as for privately run wildlife/recreational parks. Targeted hunting of porcupines for commercial international trade was also evident. Porcupines are also persecuted as agricultural pests and wildlife traffickers take advantage of such situations to procure animals for trade. What clearly emerges from this study is that porcupines are being illegally hunted and exploited throughout their range in Indonesia facilitated by poor enforcement and legislative weakness. Porcupines are in decline due to habitat loss, retaliatory killings and uncontrolled poaching. It is therefore crucial that effective conservation measures are taken sooner rather than later to prevent further depletion of these species. Including all porcupines as protected species under Indonesian wildlife laws and listing them in Appendix II of CITES to improve regulation, enforcement and monitoring of domestic and international trade trends involving porcupines in Indonesia would contribute significantly towards this end.

Porcupine quills keratin peptides induces G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via p53/p21 pathway and caspase cascade reaction in MCF‐7 breast cancer cells

“…18 Porcupine quills, a byproduct of porcupine pork, also have been used for medicinal purposes, such as stomach pains, bleeding and rheumatic disease treatments. 15,17 In addition, porcupine quills are rich in keratin (with 95%) and are regarded as an excellent source of bioactive peptides. 19 Previous studies reported that feather keratin hydrolysate prepared by fermentation showed a significant antioxidant.…”

“…Most research on bioactive peptides with anti‐breast cancer activity has focused on marine species, but little research on terrestrial organisms. Porcupines (Family: hystricidae) mainly inhabit grasslands, deserts, forests, temperate scrub and prairie mountains, and is located in many countries, such as China, Malaysia, India, Congo and Italy 14,15 . Porcupine meat is popular due to its high protein, low fat and low cholesterol, which has further resulted in a rapid increase in the number of porcupine farms 16 .…”

“…Especially, porcupine bezoars have been used in medicine for centuries 18 . Porcupine quills, a byproduct of porcupine pork, also have been used for medicinal purposes, such as stomach pains, bleeding and rheumatic disease treatments 15,17 . In addition, porcupine quills are rich in keratin (with 95%) and are regarded as an excellent source of bioactive peptides 19 .…”

“…Porcupines (Family: hystricidae) mainly inhabit grasslands, deserts, forests, temperate scrub and prairie mountains, and is located in many countries, such as China, Malaysia, India, Congo and Italy. 14,15 Porcupine meat is popular due to its high protein, low fat and low cholesterol, which has further resulted in a rapid increase in the number of porcupine farms. 16 Porcupine has not only edible value but also high medicinal value in traditional Chinese medicine, such as the porcupine stomach has the effect of clearing heat and dampness, porcupine spines have the effect of skin allergy treatment.…”

Morphological investigation of intestine structure of the Sunda Porcupine (Hystrix javanica)

“…In mammals, there are generally 4 types of digestive systems, namely ruminant and nonruminant foregut fermenter, hindgut fermenter, and autoenzyme-dependent digester (Furness et al 2015). Sunda porcupine (Hystrix javanica) is one of the wild, endemic, and protected animals in Indonesia (van Weers 1979;Gomez 2021). Based on the natural diets of porcupines (Hystricidae and Erethizontidae), they are considered herbivores that consume a variety of browse, grass, bulbs, roots, or fruits (Mori et al 2017).…”