Gorongosa 2024-FULL-FINAL - Flipbook - Page 35
ZO OLOGY
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GORONGOSA SP ECIAL
P IOTR NA S KR EC KI
PLAYING PANGOLIN When startled or frightened, pangolins curl up into a tight ball, making them easy prey for
poachers. This photo was captured before the panglin felt the need for defense, though it was still cautious.
That may not sound like much, especially considering
that Mozambique legislation from May of 2017 establishes a 16-year prison sentence for traffickers, as well as
fines dictated by their place in the trade. But in a country
that ranks as the eighth-poorest on the Human Development Index, and where average salaries hover around
about only $300 a month, the illicit trade in pangolins
can seem enticing despite the threat of punishment.
Nonetheless, Angela’s charges have fewer worries about
smugglers than their brethren outside the park. Watching over them are more than 250 locally hired rangers
trained in law enforcement, who patrol the park dismantling snares and keeping tabs on several species with the
help of GPS tags. Though the system isn’t fool-proof,
park officials say the number of traps they find within
park confines has dropped by 60 percent in recent years.
Because of that, Angela sees the task of her center—
and of the Gorongosa Park at large—as something that
encompasses more than triage. The Gorongosa Park
has worked hard to cultivate such community involvement. Some 200,000 people live around the refuge in
what park officials call a sustainable development zone
that includes education, employment opportunities,
and health service. It is for these people that the 15
vets and rangers working in Angela’s center have compiled a how-to guide on caring for distressed pangolins
found in the wild, complete with first-aid instructions
for animals rescued from poachers. The education and
involvement of the community, she says, is critical. An
informed public can help alert Gorongosa rangers to
vulnerable pangolins located outside the haven of the
park, and even point them in the direction of smuggling
bands. She points out that the majority of the pangolins
that her center has helped rehabilitate were brought to
her doorstep by concerned local residents.
Even against long odds for all eight species of Pholidota, it is this communal tendency that gives Angela
hope. Ideally, both of Angela’s pangolins will eventually be fitted with GPS trackers and released into the
safe haven of the park—a paradise for such threatened
creatures.
America has been a voracious
client of the pangolin’s
diamond-patterned skin, using
it for high-end cowboy boots.
Picture this: On a recent late afternoon toward sunset, the baby pangolin Tembo and his older bunkmate
Mercio (Angela did point out that the elder pangolin’s
name is the male spelling of her own) wake from a day
of slumber and are ready for food. Angela takes them
out of their enclosure and brings them to a nearby
grassy field, setting them loose to forage. African
ground pangolins, unlike the other species, can stand
upright on their hind legs, and Tembo and Mercio do—
sniffing the air with their sensitive noses for the scent
of dinner. Recent rains have brought a bumper crop of
ants, and the two burrow in the moist ground and get
down to business.
“Yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Angela
says. “A light of hope that with a lot of effort and joint
work it is possible to avoid the extinction of this species
that is so important in Mozambique.”
Charles Digges is an environmental journalist and
researcher who edits Bellona.org, the website of the Norwegian
environmental group Bellona.
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