David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) works at all levels of the illegal wildlife chain to protect pangolins and help reduce demand for them on the black market, and as a consumer product. We work with our dedicated Field Partners to prevent pangolin poaching at its source, funding research, education and law enforcement efforts in Africa and Asia to tackle the illegal trafficking of the species.
By supporting wildlife rangers on the ground and ensuring they have the equipment they need, and operational mobility, alongside local communities we can directly prevent the poaching and trafficking of pangolins, protecting their populations across both continents.
Demand reduction campaigns around the worldwide consumption and use of pangolin scales, meat and parts
Public awareness campaigns to ensure myths around the medicinal benefits of pangolin products are discredited
Anti-poaching and anti-trafficking operations to ensure criminal groups are apprehended in Africa
DSWF supports conservation initiatives on the ground to protect the habitats in which pangolins live. We protect one of only two remaining populations of giant pangolin in Kenya, as well as other pangolin sub-species in Zambia, Vietnam, and Thailand. We also support and fund vital monitoring and research, which you can find more about here.
The biggest threat to pangolins is poaching (for bush-meat and for consumption as a delicacy in luxury markets, and to provide scales to be traded for use in traditional medicine). However, habitat destruction and segmentation are also breaking up and decimating pangolin populations. In Kenya, the subdivision of land is a deadly threat, as electric fences put up to define community boundaries and private land frequently kill pangolins. Unfortunately, in these situations, the pangolin’s natural defence to roll up into a ball is fatal – as it stays connected to the fence. Or, as they try to back out, their scales catch on the fence and trap them.
By protecting existing populations and working with local communities and stakeholders we can work to prevent the extinction of the pangolin.
DSWF supports large-scale demand reduction campaigns in consumer countries – particularly in China and Vietnam, where pangolin scales and parts are regularly used and considered to be a cure for a variety of conditions, from asthma and back pain to difficulties when nursing babies.
By dispelling the myths that pangolin products can cure diseases and illnesses, we can reduce the demand for them in consumer countries, therefore reducing their use and value in the illegal wildlife trade.
It is estimated than over one million pangolins have been illegally trafficked into wildlife consumer markets in the last decade alone.
You can support our work to save endangered animals from extinction by adopting today.
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All donations will help us continue our vital work conservation work to protect endangered species and turn the tide on extinction.
