#Africa


Scales from 11,000 Pangolins Seized in Hong Kong from Nigeria

Nigeria – The Nigerian Minister of Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, has opened an investigation into the seizure by the Hong Kong Customs Service of 7,100 kilos of pangolins scales – representing approximately 11,000 pangolins, according to Pangolin Conservation. “The Ministry has initiated the investigation of the reported illegal trade by communicating officially with the Hong Kong CITES Management Authority with a view of furnishing the documents that will be forwarded to INTERPOL for further investigation.”, […]


Attempted Smugging 357kg Pangolin Scales Discovered at Vietnam’s Noi Bai Airport

Customs officers detected two consignments containing pangolin scales at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on April 4. The consignments were transported from Ghana to Noi Bai on February 27. Recently, many consignments of pangolin scales were uncovered at the airport, including one from Cameroon containing 357kg of scales. The traditional use of pangolin scales to treat blocked milk ducts is touted by a number of websites online, but doctors of traditional medicine said scientific […]


Four-Year Old Raises Money for Pangolins with Lemonade Stand and Completely Melts our Hearts

Everyday we’re reminded that one individual can make a difference. Today, it’s the story of Dasa (what a beautiful name), a four-year old who took it upon themselves to raise over $70 that they donated to help pangolins! Thank you Dasa! YOU INSPIRE US! Your $70 will goes towards the essential research to protect pangolins in West Africa! With this research we will be able to protect the pangolins of West Africa from the horrific trade […]


African White-Bellied Tree Pangolin

GOOD NEWS: Pangolin DNA Database is Being Developed to Combat Smuggling

This week at the IUCN conference it was announced that the Center for Conservation Biology, at the University of Washington in Seattle, was awarded a grant as part of the USAID Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge. One of 4 grand prize winners. Sam Wasser, Ph.D., and graduate student Hyeon Jong Kim will develop non-invasive genetic tests. Which will allow field researchers to identify what populations and regions poached pangolins originated from. These tests can be instrumental to […]


I Am a Human Being, Capable of Doing Beautiful Things

For the past 24 hours, I’ve had this song on repeat. “I am a human being, capable of doing beautiful things.”, continues to pierce my ears while I write this. The follow up lyrics, “There’s lightning striking all over the world.”, is just a reminder of why I have to have those first lyrics repeated. When you work in the field of conservation, self-doubt is frequent. Self-doubt appears when you’re attacked by competing interests, questioning […]


New Species of Bark Spider Discovered by PangolinConservation.org

Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   New Species of Bark Spider Discovered by PangolinConservation.org   St. Augustine, FL USA August 19, 2016   While conducting a survey for tree pangolin habitat in western Togo, Justin Miller, director of Pangolin Conservation, came across a very unique spider. After posting photos of the spider on social media, Miller came to find out this it appears to be a new species of Bark Spider (Caerostris sp.).   These […]


LARGEST Known Seizure of Pangolin Scales, It’s Devastating!

Pangolin Conservation – 16,093 lbs (7,300 kg) of pangolin scales from Nigeria were seized today in Hong Kong (an autonomous territory of China), according to customs officials. The valuable of the pangolin scales was reported as $1,805,182 US dollars (14 million Hong Kong Dollars). They were found on a cargo shipped in the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound and declared as “660 bags of recycled plastic particles”. Customs officials found that 259 bags contained pangolin scales of […]


Pangolin Conservation, “Share” a Good Thing

We need your help! Please consider a small donation to help further our programs. We’re currently working towards the following in the Volta region of West Africa: establishment of a protective reserve, population surveys, and the development of a primary school educational outreach program. We’re working on a camera trap survey, with the first few cameras being set up in August. Hopefully we’ll be able to catch some videos of some awesome animals we can share when […]


Forensics Expertise Brought to Train Scientists on Pangolin DNA to Help ID Smuggled Products

Pretoria, South Africa 4th July 2016—Scientists from Malaysia, Thailand, VietNam, Indonesia, South Korea, Australia and the United Kingdom as well as the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) law enforcement attaché for Southern Africa, last week visited the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (NZG) to learn about the wildlife DNA casework being undertaken to help crack cases with international ramifications. The need for international forensics collaboration was highlighted by the seizure the previous […]