Threats to Pangolins & Pangolin Conservation

[Lisbeth]

What happens in a pangolin rescue?

When anti-poaching units save pangolins from captivity, it’s a rocky road to restore these singular creatures to health and to return them to the wild. By Harriet Nimmo

Pangolins are top of the sightings wish list for many visitors to national parks. This elusive African animal is legendary for its unique armour, impressively long tongue and the habit of curling into a ball when threatened.

Unfortunately the quirky-looking creature is gaining increasing notoriety for the saddest of reasons: pangolins are the world’s most trafficked mammal. They are poached for both traditional African medicines as well as for use in traditional Chinese medicine. But just like rhino horn, their scales are merely made of keratin – no different to human toenails.

South Africa is home to the little-known Temminck’s ground pangolin. Tragically more and more of these are now being confiscated by the police and anti-poaching units. When they are rescued from captivity, where they have been held illegally by poachers, these pangolins are in desperate need of care.

Rhino Revolution, based just outside the Kruger National Park, has formed an alliance with the African Pangolin Working Group to provide a rehabilitation service for pangolins rescued in the Lowveld. When pangolins arrive at the Hoedspruit centre, they are very stressed, badly malnourished and dehydrated.


A veterinary nurse with a rescued pangolin. Pictures by Mike Kendrick


A rescued pangolin seen with a satellite tracking tag during its release back into the wild.

A rescued pangolin requires intensive medical care and support, which means Rhino Revolution’s veterinary nurses sit up around the clock. Using a feeding tube, the maltreated creature is carefully fed supplementary protein to try and improve its condition. In dire cases, these tube feeds are given every two hours.

At dusk, if well enough, the pangolin is ‘walked’ in the bush so that it can find its own food supply of ants and termites. This helps to encourage the natural way of feeding and improves dietary intake as soon as possible. I have been privileged enough to act as a pangolin walker and, trust me, walking a pangolin in the bush at night is quite a process. It was five hours of bumbling around in the dark while keeping an eye on my precious charge and hoping it would feed naturally.


A pangolin is walked at dusk to enable natural foraging.

But the long hours become worth it when you see the difference it makes. Rhino Revolution has just released the first rescued pangolin back into the wild and it’s a proud moment for everyone involved.

Kunja was the second pangolin to arrive at the rehabilitation centre. Although terribly dehydrated he was a fully grown adult and more resilient. After a week in rehab, he has now been set free on a secure reserve, wearing a tracker device so his progress can be monitored remotely.

Rhino Revolution’s veterinary and husbandry costs are rapidly escalating. Just a few days ago, yet another pangolin arrived at the rehab centre. If you would like to help support the rescue of pangolins with a donation, please visit their website or contact info@rhinorevolution.org. (Rhino Revolution is a closed facility and does not have any vacancies for volunteers.)

Read more
Want to know more about this endangered animal? Read Wild’s pangolin Q&A with Professor Ray Jansen of the African Pangolin Working Group.

[Lisbeth]

Four nailed trying to sell pangolin for R150 000 at Oakmore Station

The pangolin was found stuffed in a blue back pack

October 25, 2018


The pangolin which was rescued at Oakmore Railway Station. Photograph: Benoni Flying Squad

Four men allegedly trying to sell an endangered pangolin for R150 000, were arrested at Oakmore Railway Station along Pretoria Road on Tuesday.

The arrests were made during a joint operation between Benoni Flying Squad and National Crime Intelligence.

W/O Grant Giblin, the spokesperson for Benoni Flying Squad, said around 2.30pm Warrant Officers Gustav Myburgh, Francois Jansen and Sgt Wessel Brits, with National Crime Intelligence, rescued the pangolin and arrested the men.


Two of the four suspects who were arrested while allegedly trying to sell a rare pangolin for R150 000 just outside Kempton Park. Photograph: Benoni Flying Squad

The men were driving a blue Colt Club Cab and the pangolin was stuffed in a blue backpack. It is alleged the suspects were trying to sell the animal for R150 000.

“It is unknown how much time the animal spent in the bag without food, water and free movement,” Giblin said.

The pangolin was inspected by a veterinary surgeon and handed over to a member of Johannesburg Wildlife Hospital.

The suspects, aged between 27 and 37, will appear in Tembisa Magistrate’s Court facing charges under the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act of 2004.

Another pangolin was recovered at Irene Mall on August 5 where one suspect was arrested.

[Richprins]

[Lisbeth]

TZANEEN: 14 years behind bars for Pangolin thieves

Khumalo and Mpofu appeared at the Tzaneen Regional Court.

The Hawks have secured lengthy jail terms against Phumulani Golden Khumalo (41), and Sijabuliso Mpofu (48), who were found guilty of being in possession of endangered species (Pangolin) by the Tzaneen Regional Court.

“Khumalo and Mpofu appeared at the Tzaneen Regional Court and they were each sentenced to seven years direct imprisonment with no option of a fine,” Captain Matimba Maluleke said.

[Richprins]

[Richprins]

See: Images of a gastric peg tube used to save a baby pangolin
2018-10-30 20:53

Ryan Truscott, Correspondent



The tube placed straight into the pangolin’s stomach. (Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, Facebook)


In a world first, wildlife vets in Johannesburg have managed to use a gastric peg tube to try to save a rescued baby Temminck's ground pangolin who is desperately ill.

Carers have named the pangolin Menina. She is about three months old. She was brought to the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital in Midrand earlier this month.

Weighing just 2.4kg, Menina had been in captivity for at least a week before her rescue. She probably received no food or water, vet Karin Lourens told News24

Feeding the animal, who should still be with her mother, posed a problem.

Getting a feeding tube down a pangolin’s mouth isn’t possible while its awake since it curls up into a ball.

Lourens explains that anaesthetizing Menina in order to put a feeding tube into her mouth wouldn't work either.

For a pangolin the size of Menina, "we would have to do this 3-4 times a day for them to get in enough calories. Anaesthetizing them so many times a day is not safe," she said.

So the team opted for a gastric tube.



Labour-intensive job

“The gastric peg tube was the first one placed in a pangolin ever,” explained Lourens.

“This enables us to feed her without having to sedate her. The tube can stay in long-term until she is strong enough to eat by herself.”

Pictures shared on the hospital’s Facebook page show Menina lying on her back for the operation, her soft underbelly exposed and covered with monitoring pads. Initially Menina did well.

But on Tuesday her survival looked far from certain. She's now also on a drip.

If Menina does survive she’ll be kept in captivity until she gains about another two-and-a-half kg.

That in itself is a labour-intensive job, explains Lourens.

Rescued ground pangolins have to be accompanied by a minder for between six and eight hours a day so that they can feed on live ants and termites.

Unlike their Asian cousins, they can’t eat dried ones.

“Then she will have a tracking device attached to one of her scales and she will be followed for at least six months, post-release,” said Lourens.

“We will definitely use [the gastric tube] again,” Lourens said. “These animals are now being poached to extinction... we will not stop at anything to ensure their survival.”

https://www.news24.com/Green/News/must- ... n-20181030

[Lisbeth]

A dark battle to save pangolins

04 December, 2018

South African pioneers are inventing ways to save casualties of the world’s biggest wildlife crime, reports Louise de Bruin


Drip treatment: ‘What is worrying is the large number of pangolins released immediately after a sting operation following a brief health check by a local veterinarian in the vicinity’

Digger was a Cape ground pangolin, one of the four species found in Africa. Though his health was compromised, he could dig ants and termites out of anything – that’s how he got his name.

Like many pangolins caught up in illegal trade, he was kept in a closed bag for seven days without any food or water before he was found and confiscated by police in a recent sting operation.

Digger was a casualty of a trade that has made pangolins the most trafficked animals in the world, believed to account for up to 20% of global illegal wildlife trade. Figures show that in 2018 close on 50 tonnes of pangolin scales left the African continent to feed the illicit global trade in these critically endangered mammals.

At the COP17 meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Johannesburg in September 2016, a unanimous vote driven by African member states banned all trade in pangolins.

The ban has helped to strengthen law enforcement as well as efforts by the African Pangolin Working Group, a non-profit organisation established in 2011 to research, raise awareness and lobby for greater protection of the species.


Captive in a sorghum container: Because pangolins are elusive and shy, they have not been widely studied and little is known about them

Specialised treatment

The problem is what to do with pangolins rescued from the illegal trade, which require hospitalisation, specialist treatment and rehabilitation as soon as possible.

“What is worrying is the large number of pangolins released immediately after a sting operation following a brief health check by a local veterinarian in the vicinity. It is our opinion that all pangolins coming out of the trade are compromised and require specialist medical and rehabilitation care,” said Ray Jansen, chair of the working group.

When pangolins are taken out of their natural environment and kept in bags or other horrible conditions, their health becomes severely compromised. Confined, they do not have access to natural light or freedom of movement.

Being very sensitive to captivity, their body temperatures destabilise. They are not fed and their immune systems weaken. This is aggravated by the high levels of stress they suffer during the ordeal.

“Most of them develop pneumonia and have been starved for extended periods. They become walking skeletons, with everything internally slowly shutting down,” said Dr Karin Lourens, co-founder of the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital and an expert pangolin veterinarian.

Lourens, who describes pangolins as “gentle and unassuming”, said the rescued animals are usually on death’s doors when they are brought into the hospital and time is critical. Because they are elusive and shy, they have not been widely studied and little is known about them.


Pangolin pioneer: Dr Karin Lourens, co-founder of the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, has had to find innovative ways to save the casualties

Medical interventions

Lourens and her colleagues at the hospital are changing that. She has treated 31 cases in 2018, and has made some pioneering world-first medical interventions in her attempts to save the species.

Because pangolins coil up into a tight ball when they are scared, she could not rely on standard procedures to feed them. She worked out how to get around this by inserting a gastric peg tube directly into a pangolin’s stomach.

“This tube ensured the pangolin was getting proper nourishment and we could focus on monitoring and improving the animal’s condition,” she said. The procedure will be performed in the future on starved pangolins that also urgently need other medical attention.

Another world-first was a plasma transfusion from a healthy pangolin to a compromised one. A big health concern with pangolins that have been rescued from the illegal trade is their low levels of blood albumin, the main protein produced in the body, which nourishes tissue and transports hormones and vitamins throughout the body.

Lourens took blood from a healthy pangolin and once the blood was processed into its various components – packed red cells and plasma – this plasma was used to transfuse a sick pangolin. The sick pangolin’s health is steadily improving, giving Lourens hope in this very dark battle she is fighting.

Once rehabilitated and ready for release, the pangolins are tagged so that their distribution and survival can be monitored. Their carers watch them go with the hope that they don’t end up back in the illegal market.


World first: A gastric peg tube was inserted directly into a pangolin’s stomach to ensure it was getting proper nourishment

Court cases

With increased law enforcement, the number of court cases against pangolin poachers has increased and the African Pangolin Working Group is helping to train magistrates, state prosecutors and the police about the laws governing pangolins, their protection status and international trade.

In 2017 an unprecedented jail sentence of three years was handed down for a conviction in poaching and trading pangolin. “In 2018, sentences of up to seven years have been issued, which hopefully serves as a precedent in regional courts and a deterrent for pangolin poachers,” said Jansen.

In Digger’s case, the poachers have not yet appeared in court and so further details about his circumstances cannot be released. Shortly before this article was published, he died of pneumonia.

Louise de Bruin is an Oxpeckers Associate and a freelance science writer at the University of Pretoria. Photos courtesy Karin and Ashleigh Pienaar

[Lisbeth]

Malaysia torches 2.8 tonnes of African pangolin scales

2018-12-07 06:52 - AFP


Pangolin carcasses are set on fire. (Wahyudi, AFP, File)

Malaysia on Thursday torched nearly three tonnes of seized scales of endangered pangolins worth $9m in a bid to deter illegal wildlife trafficking from Africa.

The Southeast Asian nation is battling to clamp down on rife trafficking through its borders of the ant-eating mammals, whose scales are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine.

"Such a huge seizure and torching of it is definitely a blow to smuggling syndicates," Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim, the director-general of the Wildlife and National Parks Department told AFP.

Some 3 000 pangolins would have been killed to obtain the 2 800kg of scales, Abdul Kadir estimated.

The scales were confiscated by customs officials at Malaysia's Port Klang between May and September 2017.

The animal parts arrived in three different shipments from Ghana and Cameroon, and had false local addresses, officials said.

"Forensic examination of the scales showed that it is from the African species," said Abdul Kadir.

The scales were incinerated at a private waste disposal plant in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Seized pangolin scales are usually meant for foreign markets including China and Vietnam, where raw pangolin scales are sold for large profits in traditional Chinese medicine.

Last year Malaysia torched eight tonnes of pangolin scales, Abdul Kadir said, adding that wild pangolins in Malaysia have become a rare sight due to rampant hunting and deforestation.

Pangolins are also heavily poached for their meat which is considered a delicacy while products obtained from the animal are thought to increase blood circulation and lactation.

[Flutterby]

[Richprins]

Ok, but how many people went to jail?