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LETTER TO THE EDITOR TRADE BAN ON PANGOLINS ONLY AS EFFECTIVE AS ITS ENFORCEMENT   The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES)’s recent worldwide ban on all 8 species of pangolins has brought cheer to the conservation community.   Pangolins face grave threats to their survival not only from the illegal wildlife trade, but also from habitat loss and a low reproductive rate. Female pangolins produce only one offspring a year. Pangolins play an important role in the ecosystem, as their diet consists of ants and termites, and they thus provide biological pest control. It is estimated that a single pangolin consumes over 70 million ants and termites a year, and from this fact, one can imagine the role of pangolins as nature’s pest controllers and soil caretakers.   Pangolins, including the Sunda / Malayan Pangolin (Manis javanica) are considered the world’s most trafficked mammal and are at risk of extinction due to relentles...

PENCINTA ALAM NOVEMBER 2016 ECO KIDS COLUMN MEET HAILEY FORT, 9-YEAR-OLD HUMANITARIAN AND ECO HERO (By Wong Ee Lynn < wongeelynn@yahoo.com / gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com > Compiled and edited from Bored Panda at www.boredpanda.com . All photo credits: Bored Panda)         Although Hailey Fort is only 9 years old, she has already done more to help the homeless and needy than many adults ever have. This inspiring young lady spends her free time building mobile shelters for the homeless, and even grows food and provides toiletries for them.         When Hailey was 5 years old, she asked her mother, Miranda, about helping a homeless man she saw in Bremerton, Washington, where she lives. Her mother said yes, and now they work together to help the needy. The man she helped, Edward, has become her friend. She builds the shelters, “so then you don’t get rained on and you feel safe and stay dry.” “It just doesn’t seem right that there are homeless people...