Uganda’s pangolin listed as an endangered species

A pangolin is an African and Asian mammal that has a body covered with horny overlapping scales, a small head with elongated snout, a long sticky tongue for catching ants and termites, and a thick, tapering tail.

Uganda has all four of the African species of pangolin.

“These include the Tree/ White bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis), Giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantean), Cape/Temminck’s Ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii), and the Long tailed Black Bellied pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla),” says a Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) official in Kidepo Valley National Park.

Apart from being valued traditionally by the Olugave clan in Buganda, which is Uganda’s central region, they are used as raw materials for traditional medicine and also by witchdoctors to cast spells.

All four species are a wildlife fixture in the Semiki Wild Game Reserve at Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC).

However, their populations are under threat due to a variety of reasons namely some locals believe they represent bad omens while other locals either believe they must be sacrificed to ward off natural disasters.

Then there are others who believe that the pangolin makes for a fitting meal on their dinner tables and so it is popular game meat in districts such as Pakwach.

Also, pangolin shells are also used for traditional dress in different parts of Uganda while there is a high demand for its scales as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicine in China and Vietnam.

In both countries, the scales are believed to cure for heart disease, cancer as well as helping to drain pus and relieve skin diseases.

This has led to the pangolin being the second most smuggled wildlife item after Ivory in Uganda.

In 2019, the Parliament of Uganda enacted the Uganda Wildlife Act 2019 with a prime eye of on protecting pangolin and other wildlife.

According to the Act, “anyone hunting, possessing, selling, or buying protected species commits an offence and is liable to a maximum fine equivalent to £40,000 or to life imprisonment or both.”

However, according to the UWA, the species is still very much at risk and that’s why Ugandan wildlife officials are looking into a miscellany of means to conserve it and other wildlife.

Two weeks, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) commemorated 60 years of existence and, as part of its celebrations, looked at ways of reconciling conservation and poverty reduction in order to promote both as two sides of the same coin.

“We must urgently understand that the links between biodiversity and livelihoods, and between conservation and poverty reduction are both dynamic and local and must inform our interventions," said Kaddu Sebunya, the Chief Executive Officer of Africa Wildlife Foundation.

"To survive, humans must marry our aspirations to nature's ability to accommodate," added Sam Mwandha, the Executive Director of Uganda Wildlife Authority.

He also noted conserving the environment plays a key role in poverty eradication since even agriculture – which is Uganda’s number one livelihood – cannot be best utilised if the environment is destroyed.

“Agriculture is important in providing food, but conservation has a bigger impact on poverty reduction through tourism in a big way,” he noted.

Uganda, he said, has a rich heritage in wildlife and wildlands which can be used to boost agriculture and preserve wildlife. He noted that environmental and wildlife conservation will reap great rewards for the country.