Pangolin project revives endangered species
EFFORTS to reintroduce and rehabilitate the world’s most trafficked mammal, the pangolin, were made possible by the Pangolin Reintroduction Project.
The project was established by the African Pangolin Working Group, Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, and &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve to revive the endangered species.
Four expert pangolin conservationists participated in a panel discussion to address efforts made to protect this animal, including what is being done by &Beyond’s conservation team.
The panel conservationists included &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve ecologist and conservationist Craig Sholto-Douglas, ecological monitor Charli de Vos, African Pangolin Working Group executive director Nikki Wright and African Pangolin Working Group founder and chairperson Ray Jansen.
Sholto-Douglas said: “In 2029 alone, over 60 tons of scales were recovered before leaving the African continent. That means 119 pangolins would have been poached that year, and that’s only the ones that were recovered.”
Sholto-Douglas said pangolins were the most trafficked mammal in the world and had been locally extinct in the northern KwaZulu-Natal area for close to four decades.
He said the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital and African Pangolin Working Group were looking into the feasibility of using the Phinda Game Reserve as one of the release sites for pangolins that had been poached and then recovered from the illegal wildlife trade by the SAPS and the African Pangolin Working Group and Sting operation.
“The biggest challenges have been trying to understand their ecology, their behaviour, what ants and termite species they feed on, but overall it’s been worth it because I think we now have a viable breeding population of pangolins,” Sholto-Douglas said.
Anyone interested in donating to the Pangolin Reintroduction Project can find more details on https://www. givengain.com/cc/pangolin-reintroduction-programme/