San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
PANGOLIN PATROL: TEAM RESCUES ENDANGERED ANIMALS
The traumatized pangolins arrive at a Johannesburg wildlife clinic emaciated and badly injured. They are the lucky ones. Rescued from poachers, they will survive thanks to a dedicated team of volunteers who tend their wounds, feed them and coax them back to health.
Pangolins are unique creatures; the world’s only mammals with scales, which are made of keratin. They’re sometimes called scaly anteaters, although they’re not related. Like armadillos, they can roll up into an armored ball. Amazingly, their tongues can be longer than their bodies.
Pangolins are among the most poached and illegally trafficked animals in the world.
While species like the rhinoceros and elephant often headline anti-poaching efforts in Africa, experts warn these little critters, about the size of a domestic cat, are targeted more and nearing extinction because of high demand for their scales in traditional medicines in Asia.
The African Pangolin Working Group in South Africa — a team of veterinarians and wildlife experts — have been rehabilitating pangolins rescued from poachers for nearly a decade.
“When we receive those pangolins they are all compromised, whether they have been with the poachers for a few days or sometimes up to two weeks,“said Nicci Wright, a wildlife rehabilitation expert and executive director of the pangolin group. “Some are very emaciated. They have got wounds, they have got injuries and it is very pitiful and very difficult to emotionally deal with that kind of suffering and abuse.”
The animals are often caught in crude snares and recently the group received a pangolin cut deeply through its torso by a snare, almost from stomach to back, said Wright, at the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, where rescued pangolins are cared for.
The animals are treated, put on a drip for rehydration, tube-fed a specially designed recovery diet, and sedated so they sleep for up to 48 hours. Then they are moved to undisclosed locations so the wildlife hospital isn’t targeted by poachers.
The pangolin group’s chairman, Professor Raymond Jansen, recorded 97 tons of pangolin scales seized from smugglers trying to take them out of Africa last year, equating to about 150,000 poached animals. Jansen estimates it’s only about 20 percent of the total figure as the rest eludes authorities.