A tip-off sets law enforcement in motion; when they intercept the traffickers, they find a pangolin, curled tight, trembling with fear, stuffed into a battered sack, rolled in an old, disused plastic bucket. To the untrained eye, it may appear as nothing more than a pile of dried leaves, but to the wildlife intelligence officers, it is a life teetering on the edge. This is how most rescues begin: with trauma.
If someone asked me what the highlight of my animal science career has been, I would answer without hesitation: working with pangolins. These remarkable animals have deepened my professional curiosity and touched my heart. Every pangolin is full of surprises. Of course, each rescued pangolin comes in with different health status, but also unique feeding preferences, different waking up and sleeping hours, and their own personalities. They’ve shown me how much we must learn and – with all the threats they are facing – how urgently we must act to protect them.
Read about the workings of the Avian Ecology School, a program focused on imparting education about avian research and conservation among the youth of Türkiye.
Travel between Rwanda and the UK with James as he writes about hope for conserving Gorillas and rewilding the UK!
Over the next few blogs, learn more about the formidable cheetah and ways to conserve the species!
A classic story about a species as charismatic as the place in which it lives - dive in to hear more about Dr. Marina De León's time in Borneo searching for a rare Orangutan in forests threatened by oil palm plantations!
Amber with young crocodile in their rescue centre [...]