Most wanted

Most wanted and most hunted
Most extra ordinary
Covered in the truest scales
A ball thats seldom played with
Thats unless, all else fails
Keratin a substance
Not known to be a cure
For human symptoms that we know
Despite it being pure

An offering of wisdom
An armoured cloak may be
Able to withstand the feline claw
And possibly
Create a curious anomaly
That the Chinese dare to break
Its tongue is longer than its body
Its true it is no fake

A spiny ant eating mammal
Toothless we can say
No market for those faeries
And clearly no decay
And despite its natural innocence
Traditional medicine seems
To have dreamed up its significance
And I am told when steamed

The pus through the infection
That cripples and does scar
Is cured by adding all these scales
In fact it is a star
And there are some 8 species
Its longevity no one knows
Its stench of fear
When it is here
Apparently just grows

More obnoxious by the moment
Even the skunk runs fast
The soul they call the Pangolin
Creates the vilest blast
Most wanted and most hunted
In all the animal world
Traditional Chinese medicine
In that complex world its hurled

And Thousands of them daily
Are rendered down and pure
And sold For quite a fortune
As one such special cure
They are so shy and illusive
They forage night and day
When they are in the neighbourhood
Ants they run away

In Namibia there is one such beast
Called Katiti and I guess
They are able now to follow her
With her honourable GPS
Collar thats been fitted
And three ladies who now try
To follow her about all day
To know the reasons why
She does what she does
And perhaps why the Chinese
Pay so much
To use and abuse the Pangolin
As a curative as such