Inside the race to save the world's most trafficked animal

"You have to see the pangolin as your brother; do not lead a trafficker to their habitat," said His Majesty Prosper Parfait Mbassi of Monatele, capital of Lekié Department, a pangolin-rich locality in the Centre Region of Cameroon. "The very essence of living in my village is so that our pangolins may also have life, and that the rest of our biological resources will stay protected." 

In Monatele, pangolins serve as a connection between the population and their ancestors. 

27-year old Didier, a local farmer from Monatele, said that the village hosts an uncountable number of white-and-black-bellied pangolins, and confessed that until recently locals considered the animal top among their delicacies. 

This village, located just over 51 kilometres from the central African country’s political Capital, Yaounde, counts over 2,000 inhabitants, including internally displaced Cameroonians.

"Our chief has been summoning [many] of us into his palace, talking about the socio-cultural and medicinal values of the pangolin, and educating us on the care and attention we should give these protected species," Edith Mbui, a 27-year-old gardener from Monatele, told FairPlanet.

Chief Mbassi, on his part, asserted: "I am the custodian of our traditions and cultures, and must lead in keeping these treasures. My grandfather told me that the pangolin keeps our secretes; tolerating illegal trade in them or using them as bush meat equals selling out or flushing out what is sacred for us and generations to come."

Mbassi, 57, further stated that part of June and the greater part of July 2023 were dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of protecting pangolings in his community.

"I repeatedly summoned all family heads and advised them to carry the message to the rest of their families that anyone caught in poaching or in any related ill against the pangolin will be ousted from this village," he said. "The campaign is still far from ending." 

A multi-tiered campaign 

Meanwhile in Cameroon's South West Region, Tansi Goodwill Tansi, CEO of ECODAS-Cameroon, a local wildlife conservation NGO, is still moved by an effort that was made locally to set free a black-bellied pangolin back in April 2023. 

"You need to logically convince the villagers to [abide by] the wildlife law in Cameroon, which insists that the pangolin is a protected specie and that anyone found in possession of it risks a jail term, in addition to a huge fine," said Tansi. 

He went on to recommend that pangolins be released in areas they would be most safe in, and shared that when he was involved in the freeing of a pangolin he travelled several kilometres into the natural reserve to ensure the animal was safe from human threats. 

The local conservationist has been working around  the Bayang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary, Bakossi National Park, Proposed Mount Muanenguba Integral Ecological Reserve and the Mount Kupe Integral Ecological Reserve in South west Cameroon since 2021. As part of his work, he encourages locals, especially hunters, to desist from threatening the pangolin. 

"Our alternative survival methods to the largely hunter communities range from the cultivation of perishables to bee-keeping," explained Tansi. 

But the fight to protect pangolins in and around Monatele would most likely not have gained steam without the support of the Say No to Pangolin Meat Campaign by WildAid, a US-based international wildlife conservation NGO working to reduce the global consumption of wildlife products.

"WildAid helped us understand that the pangolin lives on termites and ants, and has the potential to eat 20,000 of the insects a day; it means they have the ability to eat 7.3 millions a year," said Mbui. "We understand that termites are destructive to plants and other animals. If we protect these pangolins, then we are taking care of the ecosystem as well."

Jenifer Bifot, a Francophone Africa Representative at WildAid, told FairPlanet that the NGO has chosen to work with traditional rulers due to their influence in their local communities.

"They stand a chance to talk and be listened to," she said. "We can’t just walk directly into the communities and pass across the message of protecting the pangolin. People here do not know us. Involving these traditional rulers in our campaign helps to root the message of saving the pangolin in the local communities without interfering in their customs."

Killed for medicinal purposes

The US National laboratory of Medicines noted that the African pangolin serves a great medicinal purpose across the continent. It further stated that that results gathered from 48 traditional healers in Ghana indicate the animal is used to treat major ailments in humans.

"We kill the pangolin alive and make use of its head to eradicate infertility," Primus Nsom, a 67-year-old Cameroon-based herbalist, told FairPlanet. "The scaly anteater is still widely used within our circles to enrich the spiritual powers of traditional rulers."  

Meanwhile, Bifot frol WildAid said that the NGO continues to work closely with local communities, as well as local and international celebrities, in order to promote pangolin protection in Cameroon. Since 2021, "Our ambassadors in the 'No to Pangolin Meat' campaign in Cameroon include Roger Mila and Locko, a renowned footballer and local artist."

Lax implementation of existing laws

Cameroon's Law no.94, signed in January 1994, is serving to govern wildlife activities in the country. Section 8-1 of the law stipulates that class 'A' animal species, which includes the pangolin, shall be "totally protected and may on no occasion be killed."

"Anyone who violates this law is liable to a fine ranging from CFAfrs 3000000 CFA CFAfrs 6000000 with a possibility of a one to three year imprisonment," the law further stipulates. 

Cameroon is now partnering with the IUCN, WWF, USAID, the German International Co-operation Agency GIZ and the Last Great Ape Organization in order to implement wildlife law.

A 2020 publication by the International Organization for Animal Protection (OIPA) identified Cameroon as home to three out of the four pangolin species found on the African continent. But conservationists and wildlife law enforcement officials in the country maintain that lax implementation of the country's wildlife law is exacerbating the threat of extinction for these scaly anteaters.

"The story of the pangolin is pathetic in Cameroon," lamented Eric Kaba Tah, deputy director at the Last Grape Ape Organization (LAGA), an international NGO specialised in wildlife law enforcement in Cameroon. "Not once or twice we have orchestrated pangolin-related trafficking arrests, followed up the cases in court and witnessed the pronouncements of verdicts where perpetrators are jailed and fined; within the next few days, you see them out of prison and our efforts are seen as waste of resources."

The most trafficked animal

According to a 2020 study published in ScienceDirect, "roughly 895,000 pangolins were trafficked globally between the period 2000 and 2019." The researchers demonstrate how "complex it has been to keep track of the illegal trade in this specie attributing the complexities linked to reasons for trafficking." They also revealed that "African countries have risen to knowledge regarding their roles in keeping this scaly mammal."

It further states that "Two of the eight species of pangolin fall under critically endangered on ICUN's red list of threatened species meanwhile all the eight are protected under international and national laws."

The government of Cameroon, which has liberalised protection efforts, works with multiple partners to contain wildlife trafficking. Yet the illegal trade in the endangered animals persists, with trafficking in pangolin taking the lead. 

According to LAGA's 2022 annual report, published in February 2023, the pangolin constitutes 37 per cent of all wildlife trafficking in the Central African country. And although it is difficult to determine the exact number of pangolins being trafficked in Cameroon, the report highlights that in the wake of 17 law enforcement operations across the country, 43 traffickers were arrested in possession of 246 pangolins and 386 pangolin scales.

"This trend occupies a significant pattern towards extinction if the law remains dormant and conservation efforts stifled," Tah said. 

Image by Studio Crevettes.