China has removed pangolin parts from its official list of traditional medicines, a move that has been a long time coming.

State media reported this development on June 9, days after increasing legal protections on the endangered animal.

Pangolins and other substances, including a pill formulated with bat faeces, were left out of the official Chinese Pharmacopoeia this year, the state-owned Health Times reported.

"Depleted wild resources" are being withdrawn from the Pharmacopoeia, Health Times also said.

But the exact reason for the removal of pangolins was unclear.

Background

The pangolin is the world's most heavily trafficked mammal.

Some scientists have considered the pangolin to be a possible host of the novel coronavirus that emerged at a market in China's Wuhan city in 2019.

Pangolin body parts fetch a high price on the black market.

They are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine, but its therapeutic value is dubious.

China's forestry authority on June 5 gave pangolins the highest level of protection in the country due to its threatened status.

China has in recent months banned the sale of wild animals for food.

Authorities there cited the risk of diseases spreading to humans.

However, the trade remains legal for other purposes, including research and traditional medicine.

The World Wide Fund for Nature said on June 6 it "strongly welcomed" China's move to upgrade protections for the pangolin.

WWF called the move an "important respite" from the illegal pangolin trade.

Top photo via Wildlife Alliance Flickr