Zoo in a bid to save endangered giant pangolin

CHESTER Zoo is launching a campaign to save giant pangolins from deadly snares.

- 

"Poaching is one of the biggest threats to the survival of giant pangolins," said Stuart Nixon.

"Our goal over the next 12 months is to start tackling snares."

Stuart is the Regional Field Programme Manager for Africa, coordinating Chester Zoo's projects and supporting conservation partners working across Kenya and Uganda.

Chester Zoo is working closely with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), a key in-country partner at the heart of efforts to protect endangered species, including the elusive giant pangolin.

Over 25 years in the field, he has encountered countless species, including gorillas, chimpanzees, giraffes and leopards living with snare injuries - or worse, fatally entangled in wire.

Pangolins, including the giant pangolin at the centre of Chester Zoo's project in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, are also victims of snaring.

"One of the great tragedies of the bushmeat trade is poachers might set 70 snares and just walk away.

"Sometimes they never return, and what you find instead are carcasses of snared animals and signs of a painful struggle. It’s heart-breaking and wasteful," said Stuart.

"Pangolins are doubly at risk. They're also directly targeted by poachers who want their meat and scales for the Asian traditional 'medicine' market.

"Pangolin scales are made of keratin - the same material as our fingernails - and they have no medicinal properties whatsoever."

One recent incident underlined the problem.