THE MEXICAN SAVING PANGOLINS
Leno & Ramfy, Zululand, Africa Photographed by Santiago Sierra Soler
The Mexican conservationist working in Zululand, Africa battling to save the pangolin, the most illegally traded animal in the world.
What do you do for work?
I rehabilitate and reintroduce Temminck´s Ground Pangolins into the wild. (First reintroduction program in an area locally extinct).
What is a Pangolin?
They are the most incredible living creature I had the privilege to spend time with. Pangolins are the only mammals covered in scales and they use those scales to protect themselves from predators. If under threat, a pangolin will curl into a tight ball and will use their sharp-scaled tails to protect themselves. They have very long tongues and extremely sticky saliva, which they use to eat ants and termites. Unfortunately, they are also the most trafficked mammal in the planet.
Where do you live?
Zululand (Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa)
Temminck´s Ground Pangolin Illustration: Animals Pictorial Archive, Jim Harter
What is a normal day for you?
Haha. There are no “normal” days when you work with wildlife. Every day is different, challenging and unexpected.
Some days I monitor the released ones (pangolins), this need to be done at night (they are nocturnal), we have satellite tags and telemetry tags on them. We track them and check their weight and general condition to make sure they are doing well.
This sounds quite easy, but believe me, walking at night in a Big Five game reserve, where there are wild predators such as lions and leopards but also elephants, black and white rhino and buffalo can be very intimidating.
Also Pangolins like to be in “thick” areas (grass patches and drainage lines, etc) so the access requires lots of physical effort.
Let’s put it in a few words: risky, exciting, dodgy, scary, amazing and crazy.
Sometimes we might need to call the vet to tube-feed one of them, if they are not gaining enough weigh. Or other times we need to rush in the middle of the night because they are too close to the boundaries of the game reserve and can be very dangerous for them.
And most of the times we walk for 3 to 5 hours following a pangolin making sure it feeds and collecting data, this can be many days in a row.
Where in the world can we find Pangolins?
Four pangolin species occur across Asia: the Indian pangolin, the Chinese pangolin, the Sunda pangolin, and the Palawan pangolin. Four species are found in Africa south of the Sahara Desert: the Temminck´s ground pangolin, the white-bellied pangolin, the giant pangolin, and the black-bellied pangolin.
Ramfy feeding. Santiago & Vito documenting for The Waking Ape
How long has the species inhabited the earth?
Pangolins are prehistoric mammals and have been around for 80 million years.
What is the situation / problematic in Zululand and other parts of the world.
Poaching. Pangolins are the most trafficked mammal on earth. They are used in China, Vietnam and other parts of Asia for their scales for supposed medicinal properties, gourmet food for the rich as well as beauty and sex-enhancing tonics, . This is not scientifically proven and its incredibly unfortunate.
Why is it important we give a voice to this problem?
Pangolins are a keystone species, keeping the numbers of other species in check. Case in point are termites and ants, as that’s the food source of ground pangolins. Without pangolins the effect of an exploding population of termites and ants would have a very negative effect to the environment. Pangolins do not survive well in captivity and most die very soon after entering captivity.
What are the latest news? Can you tell us about the polemic around the pangolin at the moment.
Its important to mention that a few weeks ago, most of the world population have never heard of pangolins, its was an unknown species to most people, but now, with the COVID-19 pandemic (Corona-virus disease) and the possibility that Pangolins may be the host between bats and humans, now everybody is talking about them.
We need to remember that these viruses exist and are spread between wildlife due to illegal-trade markets mainly in China and Vietnam. There pangolin’s meat, is considered a delicacy. Pangolin scales and blood are in demand in Asia. So people consuming them as food might just be the reason for all this huge problem.
Why its important to be well informed?
I think its not only important, its our responsibility to question things and to not believe everything we read in social media and the Internet.
A lot of the people share articles without reading them, they just read the headlines and don’t take the responsibility of what they are sharing.
How did you get into this line of work?
I came to South Africa for the first time as a volunteer in 2011, I was in a program monitoring African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). Since then I realized that this was what I wanted to do. It took me 8 years to move here, and a lot of effort, but I finally moved here in 2018. I worked at the Zululand Rhino Orphanage, and then the opportunity to work with pangolins came up.
Tell us about which was the moment(s) in your life where you felt “the call to take action to help”.
I think I always felt it, but took me long to find the “how”. On my first trip to South Africa I met real conservationists, ecologist, biologists, researchers. So right after I started asking around, reading, studding and learning. I then eventually got certified.
It took me a few years but I am finally living my dream.
Tell us about your personal awakening.
I’ve been trough many “awakenings” trough my life, but related to the environment, I would say it started at a very young age. My Dad loves Nature and he taught my brother and I to appreciate the magnificence of the natural world.
What is your life mission:
To enjoy being alive by knowing I am leaving a positive footprint on the planet. To learn and share this love with everyone who crosses my path.
To be coherent in what I say and do. And most importantly to learn to trust myself unconditionally.
My dream is to eventually go back to Mexico and apply everything that I’ve learned here in Africa.
If you could give one advise to someone that wants to start “helping” but doesn’t know where to start what would it be?
Know your own environment! You will understand why everything is important. And that will bring you closer to something you can do to help. Be aware and conscious of what you consume, reduce and share!
Leno & Ramfy, Bobonobo, Zululand, SA. Photographed by Santiago Sierra Soler
