World Pangolin Day is a day to focus on this very unique and very threatened animal. While the pangolin’s situation is dire in most of its range across Africa and Asia, in our region of South Africa we are delighted to share positive news for pangolins! Read more about their successful reintroduction to northern KwaZulu-Natal where they were previously locally extinct, and how you can help support their reintroduction program by sponsoring the equipment they need to stay positively protected. Read our latest story below and our ‘wish list’ for pangolins this #WorldPangolinDay.

*A re-introduced Temminck’s Ground Pangolin equipped with monitoring tags sponsored by Wild Tomorrow Fund.*

Pangolins hold the tragic title of being the most trafficked animal in the world. There are eight separate species of pangolin found in either Asia or Africa, and all are at risk of extinction as a result of habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade. They are poached every day in numbers that defy belief. Between 2014 and 2018, the equivalent of 370,000 pangolins were seized globally. This is the tip of the iceberg, counting only the illegal shipments of pangolin meat and scales that were detected at ports and airports. This means that literally millions have been trafficked and killed in an escalating crisis for Africa’s pangolins. This is absolutely devastating for all that work to protect the intriguing and shy pangolin, an animal that is rarely seen even by guides and rangers who spend most of their days out in the wild.

Increasingly, it is pangolins in Africa that are under the most pressure as the critically endangered Asian pangolins are already mostly gone. But let’s not all get depressed. We have positive news to share about pangolins in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Thanks to the dedication of conservationists working together in our region, pangolins have been successfully reintroduced and their numbers are increasing. It’s the one piece of positive news for pangolins that you will likely read today.

How is this positive news made possible for pangolins in KwaZulu-Natal?

The pangolins found in our region are the species called Temminck’s ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii). They were declared ecologically extinct in our region, lost to the landscape for at least 30 years, until world-first collaborative conservation efforts were taken to bring them back to the wild. The first pangolins were released next door to Wild Tomorrow Fund’s Ukuwela Reserve, across the river at Phinda Private Game Reserve in 2019.

*A pango-pup, born wild at Phinda Private Game Reserve. Photo credit @andBeyondPhinda, captured on a monitoring camera trap donated by Wild Tomorrow Fund & fStop Foundation.*

What’s truly remarkable about these pioneering pangolins is that they are all rescued individuals, saved just in time from poachers. Their journey back to the wild was one that started with tragic circumstances - plucked from their home by poachers, found in cars dehydrated and stressed, often in a bag without water or food for days on end. Their survival is thanks to the efforts of the African Pangolin Working Group (APWG) and local law enforcement who coordinate to bust the poachers and retrieve the injured pangolins, and the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital who nurse them back to health, ready for ‘soft release’ at one of two release locations: our partners at andBeyond’s Phinda Private Game Reserve and Manyoni Private Game Reserve.

The pangolins are not just surviving, they are positively thriving! To the delight of everyone who has been a part of the project, there have now been three “pango-pups” born at Phinda. It’s a remarkable achievement for conservationists in our region to be able to say, that thanks to their efforts, pangolins are growing in numbers after being locally extinct for decades!

DONATE TO PANGOLINS

That’s where you fit into this story. Yes, you can personally help a rescued pangolin that’s getting a second chance at a wild life. It takes a lot of caring conservation hands (plus equipment and funding) to release a rehabilitated pangolin, monitor to ensure it continues to stay healthy and find enough ants to eat to maintain condition and survive in the wild. It also requires armed and well-trained rangers on daily patrol to protect endangered pangolins, rhinos, elephants and all wildlife within their reserve’s borders.

For World Pangolin Day this year, we have created a donation shopping list for pangolins. You can help keep this pioneering population safe by donating towards the equipment they need. Be a personal part of pangolin conservation by getting involved. The more that is donated, the more cameras, tags and pangolin-safe fence energizers we can buy, to deploy to help pangolins.

PANGOLIN EQUIPMENT WISH LIST

Camera traps for monitoring. Camera traps are essential items for monitoring pangolins, confirming the presence of pangolins in their burrows, insight into their behavior and the presence of pangopups! Each camera trap costs approximately $170 USD (hand-carried to South Africa by our amazing volunteers and guests).
GPS Monitoring tags. Each released pangolin is fitted with a satellite tag attached to a scale on their back that automatically transmits their location to the reserves and APWG for monitoring. This little tracker is custom-made and equipped with GPS technology, meaning it doesn’t come cheap. Each tag costs $1300 USD.
Pangolin-safe fence energizer. While poaching of pangolins for meat and scales is the #1 threat to pangolins around the world, in South Africa they face an additional threat: electric fences. If a pangolin comes into contact with an electric fence, it instinctively rolls up into a ball, wrapping around the live wire. Each consecutive shock causes the animal to curl even tighter around the wire until the successive electrical pulses – or exposure – ultimately result in it’s death. Accidental electrocution causes as many as 1,000 pangolin deaths annually while also harming other species including tortoises, snakes, chameleons, and small antelope. A new ‘energizer’ will enable pangolin-safe fencing. Each unit costs $2250 and saves the lives not only of pangolins but other small animals too.

Thank you for supporting the pioneering pangolins of KwaZulu-Natal South Africa this #WorldPangolinDay. This exciting reintroduction project shows what is possible when conservation organizations, vets, law enforcement and concerned citizens work together, to bring an endangered species back from local extinction in one small corner of the pangolin’s world. Let’s create more positive news for pangolins this World Pangolin Day

DONATE TO PANGOLINS

*Temminck’s Pangolin, photographed by our Ambassador Shannon Wild in South Africa (2019).*

Sources and further reading:

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (2020): Wildlife Trafficking harms Animals and Human Health: The case of the pangolins.

Wildlife Justice Commission (2020): Scaling up: The Rapid Growth in the Industrial Scale Trafficking of Pangolin Scales 2016-2019.

AndBeyond Phinda. Pangolin Reintroduction Project.

Pangolin-friendly farm fencing project. www.pangolin.africa/pangolin-friendly-farm-fencing

POSITIVITY FOR PANGOLINS