Wild Wonderful World works with Umoya Khulula Rehabilitation Centre as the Limpopo registered facility responsible for full recovery and eventual release of Pangolins that are confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade. In collaboration with Hoedspruit Animal Hospital (where blood tests, radiographs, ultrasound and any other veterinary tests and treatments happen), Umoya takes care of rehabilitation. This includes walking and foraging, accompanied by staff until the pangolins are ready for soft-release.

When that time comes, the rehab team selects release sites based on the individual animal's character, feeding preferences and site security. VHF and GPS tags are fitted to the scales on the lower back (the scales are keratin, like human nails, so where they overlap there are no nerves, and the tags cause no pain). Monitoring then happens at gradually increasing intervals until the animal is confirmed self-sufficient. The Umoya Khulula team also trains local monitoring teams at the release site to continue follow-up after the full handover.

The full rehab and release process can take between 6 months to 2 years, depending on the age and condition of the pangolin when found.

Wild Wonderful World contributes to Pangolin rescue in two main ways:

1. We support Hoedspruit Animal Hospital with collecting donations, keeping them in ringfenced accounts ready for deployment.
2. We raise funds for specific costs such as the tracking tags essential to safe release. One set of tags costs between $1,600 and $2,200 and can be reused after being removed from a successfully released animal.

More info about this project here.

All pangolins in rehabilitation are housed at secure, off-site locations for safety reasons.

Photos by Julie Schall.