This gentle, scaly, ant-eating mammal, has the infamous reputation of being the most illegally trafficked mammal in the world today – have you heard of a Pangolin?
Since the CITES CoP17 held in South Africa September/October 2017, Pangolins have emerged from obscurity and have been thrust firmly into the limelight. Modern convention teaches us that once an animal is listed as CITES Appendix I, the threat is recognised, quantified and is in the process of being counteracted, this penultimate listing also means that we as the human race has already failed the species. Sadly the reality of CITES Appendix I protection for the pangolins species could not be further from the truth, as the frenzied illegal harvesting of these mammals continues on, throughout both the Asian and African Range States. In West Africa the pangolin is still considered as part of the bushmeat culture. Coupled with the socio-economic issues facing West, Central and Southern Africa, we are a long way from a comforting belief that Africa can save these mammals from extinction. The rise in demand for the pangolin has caught many African governments off-guard.
“I founded, the Tikki Hywood Foundation, in memory of my father – Tikki Hywood”, Lisa Hywood, CEO and Founder, Tikki Hywood Foundation.
The Tikki Hywood Foundation, a wildlife conservation and rescue, rehabilitation and release centre, has been operating in Zimbabwe for the past 26 years. It was founded and developed by Lisa Hywood in 1994, in loving memory of her late father, Tikki Hywood, a man who ‘looked to the future with optimism’ and who had instilled in Lisa a deep passion for nature and wildlife. She formed the Foundation to champion the wildlife causes of a country to which she is bonded and from which so much has already been taken. Lisa is to date the Founder and managing Trustee and has been the driving force behind the Foundation since its inception.
“We exercise a multifaceted approach to conservation of Zimbabwe’s natural heritage. From Elephants to Pangolins, the Foundation has a wide range of experience with the rescue, rehabilitation and release of wild animals and their protection”
Since receiving its first ground pangolin in a sack in 1994, The Tikki Hywood Foundation has established themselves as global authorities in African pangolin species, giving this species a complete conservation approach from rescue, to rehabilitation and release. The difficulty with pangolin rehabilitation is that they can’t be put in a cage and fed an artificial diet, it is a species that doesn’t adapt well to captivity. Rehabilitation is exceptionally specialised and intensive, particularly in man hours. Zoos attempting to breed pangolin have yet to do it successfully and experience a high mortality rate and unfortunately all their “guinea pigs” are wild caught pangolins.
The Tikki Hywood Foundation’s approach to conservation is diverse, dovetailing to ensure an umbrella approach touching all areas vital in conservation. These include: endangered species programs, education and awareness, environmental protection, and wildlife legislation and enforcement. Whilst it advocates for the protection of the environment as a whole, it was the persecution of the Pangolin, one of the focal species, that led the Foundation to address the challenges with Illegal Wildlife Trade in Zimbabwe, which is the primary reason for the demise of this amazing creature.
Illegal Wildlife Trafficking (IWT) is big business, and interlinked with big criminal syndicates across the world. Unfortunately, you just don’t hear about the plight of the ‘little guys’, like pangolin, only the larger charismatic animals; Rhino, Elephant and the big cats like Lion and Tigers. The little guys aren’t particularly cuddly or relatable, all the while in the background the scourge of human desire and greed is wiping them off the face of the earth at a rate that will see them extinct before they are even known.
IWT is thought to come in third, behind drugs and weapons as most valuable of the worlds illicit commerce, earning an estimated 26.5 billion US Dollars a year. The cost, is the innocent lives of many animals not only pangolins, who endure unimaginable cruelty and death at the hands of the poachers and smugglers. The big question is Why? “Why is the pangolin in such peril?” Quite simply – to supply the human demand. Pangolin meat is seen as a delicacy in China and Vietnam, with pangolin foetuses being prized above all. The pangolin scales are ground down to powder form and used in traditional Chinese Medicine, just like Rhino horn and Tiger and Lion bones. In Africa pangolins are threatened by the bushmeat trade predominantly in West and Central Africa and their scales are used for cultural and ethno-medicinal purposes, including traditional African medicine, known as muti or juju. The plight of the pangolin is dire indeed. A species that has been protected and revered culturally in Zimbabwe for decades is now being actively sought out to supply the demand in the illegal wildlife trade. The horrifying reality is that there is currently no accurate population census for any of the four species of pangolin that occur in Africa. There are even anomalies being found in their proposed distribution.
Unfortunately, a census on pangolin is not possible, these animals are notoriously hard to find let alone count, mainly due to their predominantly nocturnal habits. Many sleep burrowed underground during the day. Due to their size, even the largest of the species, the Giant Ground Pangolin, is difficult to find in its natural habitat. Some pangolin species live in trees, and all are too small to detect in aerial surveys. Lastly pangolins are solitary animals, except when a mother is raising a pup.
“We don’t even know how many pangolins there are left to save, so we’re fighting a silent war,” says Hywood.
The ‘scale’ of the problem can only be measured by the product that is seized, which many anti-trafficking organisation believes to be an average of only 10% of what is actually trafficked. In 2013, 674kgs of African pangolin scales was recovered in China, in 2016 a staggering 19 tonnes of scales was recovered in China, an indicated increased of 2,570%. A further 36 metric tonnes were seized (194% increase) in 2017 alone. This equates to between 9,000 – 59,000 individual pangolins, depending on the species, as they differ in size. When captured the most common method of restraint is to keep the animal bound up in a grain sack or container. Pangolins will often be kept like this for days and even weeks before they are sold or confiscated. A pangolin will roll up into an impenetrable ball in defence against natural predators which is particularly effective because of its scales, but this makes the pangolin extremely vulnerable against man, and quite simply ‘easy pickings’.
Africa is the second largest continent in the world physically. It is home to four of the eight pangolin species worldwide. The 35 Pangolin Range States in Africa represent 65% of the continent. The other four species of pangolin are found in Asia.
All eight species appear on the IUCN Red List, The IUCN or International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organisation working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), was founded in 1964, and has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species.
“Pangolins are a unique group of insectivores unlike any other. There are only eight species, four of which occur in Africa and four in Asia. Persecuted for their flesh as a delicacy and their scales as unproven medicine, these mammals have been harvested by the millions in the last decade,” Lisa Hywood.
The four Asian species are The Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) IUCN Red List status: Critically Endangered. The Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata), also known as the Thick-tailed Pangolin, IUCN Red List status: Endangered. Sunda Pangolin (Manis javanica), also known as the Malayan pangolin, IUCN Red List status: Critically Endangered. The Philippine Pangolin (Manis culionensis) IUCN Red List status: Endangered. Together their range extends from Pakistan eastward through southern China, south from the Himalayas in Nepal and throughout the Indian sub-continent including Sri Lanka, as well much of mainland and island Southeast Asia, including the Palawan faunal region in the Philippines.
Four species also occur in sub-Saharan Africa, the Temminck’s Ground Pangolin (Smutsia temminckii), also known as the Cape Pangolin, IUCN Red List status: Vulnerable. The Giant Ground Pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) IUCN Red List status: Vulnerable. These are the largest of all eight species and have been recorded to weigh up to 33 kgs. The White-bellied Pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis), also known as the Three-cusped Pangolin or Tree Pangolin, IUCN Red List status: Vulnerable. And the Black-bellied Pangolin (Uromanis tetradactyla), also known as the Long-tailed Pangolin, IUCN Red List status: Vulnerable. The Black-bellied Pangolin are the smallest of all the species, weighing around 2-3 kgs. Collectively they are distribute throughout west and central Africa, as well as parts of East Africa, and Southern Africa, as far as south as South Africa.
“Pangolins have proved to be an incredibly challenging mammal to track, so sadly we do not know how many are left in the wild,” Lisa Hywood
The name ‘pangolin’ is derived from the Malay word “pengguling”, which loosely translated means “something that rolls up”. They are in a unique group or order all of their own called Pholidota. Pangolins are small mammals, with sizes ranging from 1.8 kg up to 35 kg, who are both ground dwelling and some tree dwelling. Pangolins are toothless and covered in plate-like scales made of keratin, the same protein that forms human hair and fingernails. The scales cover the entire body from head to tail, except for their undersides and face which is soft skin and covered in fine hair of which the density differs depending on the species. The scales contribute an estimated 20% of their total body weight. Pangolins eat ants and termites, some species from the earth and other species from the trees, using their extraordinary long and sticky tongues and strong, curved claws.
“We’ve been to the moon but we still don’t know about pangolins” – Ellen Connelly, Zoologist, Tikki Hywood Foundation
Pangolin are enigmatic because we are still learning so much about them and they are currently the subject of intense research. Due to their size and secretive habits, current research on the species is still at basic levels. Tracking individuals is even more challenging. They are uniquely covered in scales and have extreme habits of rolling in mud, water and various manure of herbivores, a tracking device placed on the animal would need to be very robust. Not to mention that the wild terrain in which they live makes tracking them without a device near impossible. However, research efforts are being made a priority and even though these are still in the infancy stages, it is exciting to know that all data collected can be used to determine how best to protect the species going forward.
The Tikki Hywood Foundation believes that the most urgent requirement for the protection of the species, and all endangered wildlife, is protected spaces. The Foundation is actively lobbying for a more unified protection for all Africa pangolin species across the range states. The Foundation wants Africa to unite in the preservation and conservation of the species. The Tikki Hywood Foundation is currently working in Uganda, Cameroon, Liberia and Mozambique.
Working in these countries with government authorities and through the government systems, including their wildlife authorities in the hope of creating an African thought process or idealism, a reality for Africa on how to protect her wildlife. A first positive step saw all African range states unite for the first time at CITES CoP17 and unanimously vote to uplift the pangolin from Appendix II to Appendix I status.
“Wildlife conservation is not a standalone practice, it requires collaboration from all stakeholders in order to successfully protect our wildlife heritage”, Lisa Hywood
The Tikki Hywood Foundation not only rescues, rehabilitates and releases pangolin, it follows the whole judicial process, once they have retrieved a pangolin rescued from trade. In Zimbabwe the Foundation has been working tirelessly with local government authorities and has been instrumental in the collaboration between government departments in conservation efforts for this and many other species. Zimbabwe can boast the highest conviction rate for pangolin poaching in the world. There is a deterrent penalty of nine years in jail for those convicted of the crime with the additional potential of a USD 5000 fine on top. The Foundation believes that a tough stance and high penalties are some of the tools we can employ in breaking the Illegal Wildlife Trafficking cycle.
The Foundation is currently researching parameters of range territory that released pangolin can or choose to maintain. It hopes that through sightings of previously released pangolin it can determine an area’s population and potential for further growth. It is also categorising the preferred food source of the released pangolin, through sampling and identification. This is mostly done during ‘soft releases’, a release done over a period of time.
Soft release pangolins are usually those that have come to the Foundation as juveniles and have been cared for over many months. Pangolin minders can observe behaviour and report on their findings. Knowing more about the species and their habits, will play a vital role in determining the ‘safe spaces’, where pangolins can be wild and free.
Having the status of the world’s most trafficked mammal has made the world curious, and interest in the pangolin has increased exponentially. Let’s pray it is not too late.
