Newquay Zoo funded the establishment of a pangolin research facility in partnership with its existing Small Carnivore Project based in Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam six years ago – the first of its kind in Asia.
The main aim of the project is raising awareness of the trade and the problems of keeping pangolins in captivity and rehabilitating them into the wild. The problem is immense – hundreds, if not thousands, of tonnes of pangolins are traded in Asia and through Vietnam mostly to China. When seized, the animals are in appalling condition having travelled in sacks without food or water for many days. Dehydrated, malnourished and mostly with dog bite or snare wounds, the survival rate, even if they reach a rescue centre, is very low.
Pangolins are sold by weight and there is a barbaric practice of pumping their stomachs full of flour and water so that they weigh more. This also kills them eventually. The research has shown that even low levels of stress causes intestinal ulcers which is the most common cause of death. Just taking a pangolin into captivity, even a healthy one, is usually stressful enough to kill it long before it has adapted to an artificial diet.
Asian rescue centres simply don’t have the resources to tackle the problem of receiving seized pangolins which can be in shipments of up to two hundred or more. Usually there is no choice but to release the animals immediately back into the wild. In poor health and injured, it is doubtful whether many of them survive and sick and disorientated animals are easily recaught by hunters.
Successfully maintaining pangolins at Cuc Phuong has been dependent on giving surviving animals a natural ant diet which is very labour-intensive. Trials with a whole range of artificial diets have not been successful. They now farm their own ants and silk worms which our study group of pangolins thrive on. There have been several births but survival rate of the offspring beyond a year is still a problem.
The project has been most successful in networking the pangolin crisis between range countries to provide data to make a case for increasing protection, facilitating conferences and increasing the number of prosecutions for smuggling.
Taipei has had some success, it is true, but they have also lost a lot of animals and breeding success has been low. Their complex diet is based on bee larva, not easily replicated certainly in rescue centre throughout Asia.
I agree that finding a key to maintaining pangolins in captivity may be possible but I feel this still requires a great deal of research. Shipping the animals off to zoos would not help. The majority would simply take longer to die.
Anyone travelling in Vietnam is welcome to visit the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Programme (CPCP) at Cuc Phuong National Park by appointment
Home Currently the website is being worked on but anyone contacting the project can request to recieve newsletters. Almost the entire budget for the project over the six years so far as been provided by zoos.
