{"id":34903,"date":"2023-12-20T11:07:31","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T09:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/?p=34903"},"modified":"2024-01-08T11:08:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T09:08:49","slug":"long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-kenya-giant-pangolins-are-now-being-helped-back-from-the-brink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/trade-and-legislation\/long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-kenya-giant-pangolins-are-now-being-helped-back-from-the-brink\/","title":{"rendered":"Long thought to be extinct in Kenya, giant pangolins are now being helped back from the brink"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Article written by Peter Muiruri<br \/>\nOriginally published by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2023\/dec\/05\/once-thought-extinct-giant-ground-pangolins-helped-back-from-brink-kenya-aoe?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Guardian<\/a> (Mon, 20 Nov, 2023)<\/p>\n<div class=\"d-inline-block text-medium mt-4\">\n<div id=\"chart\" class=\"dw-chart-body vis-height-fixed datawrapper-dS4Y2-ygn0nb svelte-so4qex content-below-chart\" aria-hidden=\"false\">\n<div class=\"dw-chart-body-content svelte-so4qex datawrapper-dS4Y2-lwskl8 bc-label-align-left bc-grid-lines bc-hide-dots bc-grid-top bc-labels-left\">\n<div class=\"legend-container\">\n<div class=\"category-legend horizontal dir-ltr datawrapper-dS4Y2-1pyqq0x\" role=\"graphics-legend\" aria-label=\"Category legend with 3 items. The items are Most pessimistic estimate, Most likely estimate, and Most optimistic estimate\">\n<div class=\"legend-categories datawrapper-dS4Y2-3s400u dir-ltr horizontal\">\n<div class=\"legend-swatch\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<div class=\"legend-no-break\">\n<div class=\"legend-color dw-circle\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1djovmt\" data-gu-name=\"headline\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1txtwj\">\n<h3 class=\"dcr-1kwg2vo\">In 2018, sightings of these solitary, nocturnal animals were recorded in Kenya for the first time in half a century. Now conservationists are working with farmers to create space for them on the land<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-1yi1cnj\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\">\n<div class=\" dcr-xq41iu\">\n<form id=\"&quot;secure-signup-global-dispatch&quot;\">\n<div class=\"&quot;email-signup-iframe-17gkgdc&quot;\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">When Fred Telekwa settled on his farm inside Nyakweri forest, in western Kenya, four years ago, his main worry was how to prevent elephants and buffaloes from destroying his crops. The nearby Maasai Mara game reserve housed a huge amount of roaming wildlife.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">\u201cTwo or three elephants can clear an acre of cabbages in one night. I had no choice but to put up an electric fence to ward off the animals,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">But the fence had unintended consequences. One morning in November last year, Telekwa woke up to the sight of a giant ground pangolin that had been electrocuted as she tried to reach a termite mound. She was pregnant. And her death left Telekwa distraught.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">\u201cI am one of those people who have supported the conservation of pangolins in this forest. How could one die within my land? I am yet to get over the loss,\u201d he says, stroking the wire with a wooden staff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">\u201cThat was the first and last time I ever saw a pangolin. In fact, had she not been electrocuted, chances are I would not have seen her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">A solitary, nocturnal, scaly-clad animal that looks like a huge, slow-moving pine cone, the\u00a0endangered giant ground pangolin\u00a0was believed to be extinct in Kenya.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_34907\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34907\" style=\"width: 1366px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-34907\" src=\"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya2Credit-Will-Burrard-Lucas-Pangolin-Project.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1366\" height=\"768\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya2Credit-Will-Burrard-Lucas-Pangolin-Project.webp 1366w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya2Credit-Will-Burrard-Lucas-Pangolin-Project-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya2Credit-Will-Burrard-Lucas-Pangolin-Project-1024x576.webp 1024w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya2Credit-Will-Burrard-Lucas-Pangolin-Project-150x84.webp 150w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya2Credit-Will-Burrard-Lucas-Pangolin-Project-768x432.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1366px) 100vw, 1366px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34907\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A team from the Pangolin Project measure and tag a giant ground pangolin at night. The images were taken with an infrared camera to avoid stressing the pangolin as the nocturnal animals are very sensitive to light. Photograph: Will Burrard-Lucas\/Pangolin Project<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Their rediscovery, through a scattering of sightings in 2018, was cause for cautious celebration among conservationists. Now, the fight is on to ensure this tiny population survives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Pangolins are highly endangered, and their numbers are declining rapidly. They are considered the world\u2019s most trafficked animals \u2013 especially to Asian markets, where their meat is seen as a delicacy and their scales are sold as a cure for conditions including hangovers and liver problems, and to help mothers breastfeed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">There is\u00a0no scientific evidence\u00a0that pangolin scales have any medicinal value. Nevertheless, the\u00a0wildlife protection organisation Traffic\u00a0estimates that in 2021 alone, 23.5 tonnes of pangolins and their body parts were trafficked, and\u00a01 million\u00a0of the animals have been poached over the past decade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">In Kenya, little is known about the giant ground pangolins\u2019 population \u2013 including how many live in the country\u2019s forests. Before 2018, it was assumed that the pangolin was locally extinct, as the\u00a0last-known sighting was in 1971\u00a0in western Kenya. Today, local conservationists estimate there are only between 30 and 80 left in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Since last year, the\u00a0Pangolin Project\u00a0has been working with landowners around Nyakweri forest to create space for these animals, a tall order considering that most, like Telekwa, are farmers who are clearing the forest for farming and erecting electric fences to keep away wild animals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Within the forest lie bags of charcoal, freshly felled trees, neatly arranged logs and charcoal kilns \u2013 clear indicators of the loss of forest cover, a key habitat for the giant ground pangolin in Kenya.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_34906\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34906\" style=\"width: 1366px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-34906\" src=\"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya3-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1366\" height=\"768\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya3-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian.webp 1366w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya3-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya3-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian-1024x576.webp 1024w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya3-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian-150x84.webp 150w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya3-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian-768x432.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1366px) 100vw, 1366px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34906\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A local man shows a wood pile that will be lit and covered in turf to produce charcoal in the Nyakweri area. Photograph: Edwin Ndeke\/The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">\u201cThere are so many threats that make the giant ground pangolin a priority,\u201d says Beryl Makori, the project manager. \u201cWe are losing the forest ecosystem following land demarcation to individual pieces,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">\u201cThere is also a measure of poaching because we have found some pangolins without scales after being electrocuted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Reducing or stopping deforestation is crucial if the few remaining giant ground pangolins in Kenya are to survive in the wild. Already, about 23 landowners, representing at least 60 households, have come together to form the\u00a0Nyekweri Kimintet Forest Conservation Trust, covering almost 2,020 hectares (5,000 acres).<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Peter Ole Tompoy, 70, heads the\u00a0conservancy that protects the Nyakweri forest and hopes to persuade more landowners to sign conservancy leases and give the giant pangolins a fighting chance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">\u201cMaasai are pastoralists. Previously, we didn\u2019t have these land demarcations and would move all over looking for pasture. Now the demarcation has divided the land,\u201d says Tompoy, who, despite his passion for conservation, has never seen a pangolin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Some landowners say the lack of an alternative livelihood to farming has held them back from fully embracing conservation. Musuak Ole Kakui grows maize on 30 of his 80 acres. \u201cAn acre gives me 20 to 25 bags of maize. A bag sells for 5,000 Kenyan shillings [\u00a327] \u2013 or 100,000 an acre,\u201d he said. \u201cConservation may not earn my family a similar amount.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_34904\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34904\" style=\"width: 1366px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-34904\" src=\"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya4-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1366\" height=\"768\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya4-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian.webp 1366w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya4-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya4-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian-1024x576.webp 1024w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya4-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian-150x84.webp 150w, https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Long-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Kenya4-Photograph-Edwin-NdekeThe-Guardian-768x432.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1366px) 100vw, 1366px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34904\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Nangida, a \u2018pangolin guardian\u2019 in the community, tracks a pangolin as a ranger stands guard. Photograph: Edwin Ndeke\/The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">According to Araluen \u201cAzza\u201d Schunmann, director of the\u00a0Pangolin Crisis Fund, addressing the needs of local people is crucial to making conservation work. \u201cCommunity-led conservation is central to saving endangered species and creating coexistence between wildlife and the people living alongside wildlife,\u201d she says. \u201cFor wildlife to thrive, the people of the region need to thrive as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, the Pangolin Project has been raising awareness in the community with a small team of young men making the rounds of homesteads and helping landowners to remove the lowest strands of electric fences, which are the most dangerous threat to the animals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">So far, these \u201cpangolin guardians\u201d have spoken to about 1,800 households, says Claire Okell, founder of the Pangolin Project. \u201cThe community will have a sense of ownership if these pangolins are protected within their area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Although pangolins have received a lot of attention as the world\u2019s most trafficked mammals, \u201cthis knowledge has not translated into a robust conservation drive\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Now it is a race against time to save the pangolin, says Makori. \u201cI feel we are protecting the last of the pangolins. We will give all it takes for a protected habitat with a viable population.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article written by Peter Muiruri Originally published by The Guardian (Mon, 20 Nov, 2023) In 2018, sightings of these solitary, nocturnal animals were recorded in Kenya for the first time in half a century. Now conservationists are working with farmers to create space for them on the land When Fred Telekwa settled on his farm [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":34905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34903"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34909,"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34903\/revisions\/34909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalsurvival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}