People & Pangolins — Overcoming challenges to co-existence
Pangolins have shot into the limelight of wildlife conservation as they are now believed to be the most illegally trafficked mammal in the world. Driven by an insatiable demand for their scales and meat, the illicit trade of pangolin globally has soared in the past 10 years.
Approximately one million African pangolins were estimated to have been removed illegally from the wild between 2010 and 2013. These pangolins were illicitly traded across international borders to meet the growing demand for their scales. Scales are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and pangolin meat is considered a delicacy in some cultures.
The terrifying scale of the trade has been demonstrated by the number of huge seizures of pangolin related products that represent thousands of individuals from multiple range states.
The Pangolin Project is dedicated to the protection of pangolins and the habitats on which they depend in Kenya. There are three of the four African pangolin species in Kenya. Work by the Pangolin Project has shown that all pangolin species are present in reserves and continue to exist outside formally protected areas where people frequently encounter them.
Poaching pangolins for financial gain is a very real threat to their survival and it is in areas without formal protection that pangolins are most at risk. Pangolin poaching is a silent affair that leaves no trace. Poachers catch live pangolins, put them in bags and carry them away.
Detecting these nefarious activities is particularly difficult because pangolin monitoring requires specialist equipment owing to their solitary and predominantly nocturnal behaviour. At The Pangolin Project, the primary focus is to develop protection units and the technology needed to monitor pangolin populations.
However, even with these dedicated teams of individuals, we firmly believe that communities are the first line of defence for pangolins. Winning over communities and engaging them in pangolin protection is key to reducing incidents of poaching. However, even if the risk of poaching can be reduced, as with other species, conservation efforts can only succeed if human-pangolin could be co-existence is possible.
In many ways, pangolins a model for human-wildlife coexistence. They are myrmecophagous, which means that they only eat ants and termites and hence they are not a threat to people’s livelihoods such as livestock or crops and they pose no risk to human life. As one community member explained: “They are the politest of all wildlife species!” It, therefore, seems possible that if people refrained from poaching pangolins for the illegal wildlife trade, the docile creatures would co-exist peacefully with humans.
Despite the foregoing, we have encountered several important challenges that undermine the co-existence between people and pangolins. Our initial work has highlighted a lack of knowledge of pangolin behaviour and ecology in communities. We have come across people who mistakenly believe that pangolin feed on crops and grass. The misconceptions emanate from sightings of pangolins burrowing away underground in search of ants.
Many believe that pangolins are reptiles or amphibians that could inflict poisonous bites like some species of snakes. In these cases, fear of the unknown drives negative attitudes and beliefs. There are reports of pangolins killed when individuals, especially boys herding livestock, see them and do not know what they are. These kinds of gratuitous killings occur out of ignorance and are not motivated by financial gain.
Traditional perceptions and attitudes to pangolins also influence human behaviour. In some communities, pangolin sightings are considered a bad omen often staved off by killing the pangolin or a domestic animal in its stead. In one community meeting organised by The Pangolin Project, a well well-respected elder stood and admitted to killing three pangolins for this reason. On the other hand, some communities consider pangolin sighting a sign of good luck or a blessing but since some of these traditional beliefs are passed on orally from one generation to another, the positive notions may not be reaching younger people as traditional tale-telling skills die off with creeping modernity.
The negative perceptions and the lack of knowledge in communities are enablers of poachers who have their eyes fixed on the profits to made in the international illegal wildlife trade market. It is easy to encourage the poaching of an animal that people attach negative attributes to because any intrinsic value of such a creature is unrecognised.
Creating knowledge and awareness about the ecology and behaviour of pangolins is key to dispelling some of the myths and misconceptions. Changing people’s attitudes and behaviour towards pangolins is key to promoting co-existence with communities. The Pangolin Project’s work includes awareness and education programmes for communities as well as clear messaging on what to do when they come across a pangolin. In our experience, people of all ages have appreciated learning about pangolin ecology and behaviour, suggesting that addressing fear and mistrust through education is a valuable tool. In addition, the awareness engenders community buy-in in pangolin conservation.
Secondly, co-existence can only occur where there is sufficient habitat for a species to survive. It is increasingly clear that whilst pangolins do live alongside people, populations are absent in areas dominated by agriculture. This may be due to persecution, but it is also likely that agriculture leads to a reduction in the number of ants and termites that pangolins feed on. Researching how land use affects pangolins is necessary to devise sustainable pangolin conservation interventions. An example of this is farming practices that promote healthy soils that are not toxic to insects and can therefore support biodiversity for the benefit of both humans and wildlife, including pangolins.
In addition, community goodwill is essential for the long-term protection of pangolins. Tourism provides a significant benefit to communities, but while pangolins may be endemic in some areas, they are far from being a tourist attraction. They are shy creatures and predominantly nocturnal. Seeing them from a tour van is not easy as they prefer stealth, rolling into a ball when they become aware of a threat. Communities are therefore unlikely to regard pangolins as a boon to safari tourism on the same level as elephants or lions.
Communities, therefore, need to be made aware of other benefits emanating from pangolins and other smaller species to encourage conservation and co-existence.
The Pangolin Project is exploring innovative ideas that include introducing the conservation of pangolins and other small wildlife species in carbon credits schemes to raise funds for the protection of key habitats and link the provision of community development services to conservation programmes.
The Project is also expanding its Pangolin Ambassador Programme to make it the foundation for community partnerships. Our team works with community representatives to improve awareness and knowledge while providing local focal points to respond to threats or incidents, working directly with the Kenya Wild Life Service. In addition to this, the development of dedicated protection teams and the provision of technology to assist in pangolin monitoring will boost the safety of the animal while gathering more information on risk factors.
Swara Magazine October - December 2021