Rehabilitate & Monitor Rescued Pangolins

The season has started, and the illegal trafficking of these poor creatures is hitting our teams hard. We received 4 pangolins in the space of 4 days in May, all requiring intensive medical treatment and care before they can be moved to the rehabilitation facility to continue their journey back to the wild.

Springbok -  A large adult male was rescued from the illegal wildlife trade recently weighing in at a whooping 13kgs!. Springbok (as he was named by the investigating officers) arrived at Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital emaciated and scared. A couple of weeks of daily foraging walks,and he was transferred to our team for the last of his rehabilitation and eventual release.

Malay - The young female pangolin was successfully rescued from wildlife traffickers in a sting operation conducted by the South African Police Service in Cape Town. Once stabilized she was flown to Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital for a full assesment and once she was fit to be transferred she joined our team for the rest of her reahabiliation. Although deydrated, emaciated and severly injured from being tied up by her poachers this tenacious little pangolin rallied hard, and during a CT scan to assess any internal damage we discovered that Malay was pregnant and we are infact fighting for two lives!

Aleah - Was rescued from the illegal wildlife trade where one suspect was arrested in the operation. Aleah was found to be extremely emaciated and dehydrated. She is extremely thin, but she is a fighter and whilst she has long road ahead, she is expected to make a full recovery.

Emily - was rushed to our vet in mid-May after being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. Upon arrival this little girl was unable to walk properly, aimlessly stumbling around. We knew there was something serious wrong and from her melted scales, we knew that she must have been through immense trauma, but nothing could have prepared our team for what we would learn from the CT scan that was ordered in desperation to find out why she refused to feed and could hardly move. 7 broken ribs (with haemorrhaging in a small portion of her lung) and a broken tail. We will never know what her captures did to this poor girl, but we just knew she was a fighter and despite a lot of conflicting opinions and pessimistic (yet realistic) views on her prognosis our team persevered and will continue to fight with her and give her the chance she deserves. Emily has surprised us all with her tenacity and will to live. It took 9 gruelling days of our vet trying everything, and lots of tears shed for her to feed for the very first time on her own and a further 3 days for her to properly start to feed and forage on her daily walks. She is slowly getting there and her road to recovery is going to be a long one, but we are confident that she is strong enough and has the will to get through what lies ahead!!