How reformed poachers are helping save pangolins

Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world, and Uganda is both a home to four species and a major transit route for the illegal trade in their scales.

 In this episode of Around Uganda, we travel to Kanungu District near Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to meet conservationist Moses Arinaitwe and his team at Pangolin Rescue Center Uganda.

Working alongside local communities, wildlife authorities, and even former poachers, the team rescues pangolins from smugglers, rehabilitates them, and returns them to the wild. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:02

Shy and secretive, but endangered. Pangolins are believed to be the most trafficked mammals in the world. Uganda is home to four major species of pangolins, but it's also a key transit herb in the illegal global trade of their scales. Hello and welcome to the new Vision Daily podcast around Uganda. I'm Razia Uthman.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

When in the rangers force, mostly we use a gun. We use force in most cases. But I felt like let's now use in a peaceful manner.

SPEAKER_06 0:46

It's a chilly Saturday in Buhoma, Kanungu District near Buindi Impenetrable Forest. We have come to meet former game ranger and conservationist Moses Arinitwe, who runs the Pangolin Rescue Center Uganda. He works with local communities and the wildlife authority to rescue animals intercepted from smugglers. As we enter the center, a team is about to be dispatched. Two young women and five men in khaki uniform looking like rangers, but they are not rangers, not yet. They are wildlife enthusiasts, conservationists, and some of them are reformed poachers. They have a cage, gloves, and their van is waiting outside.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

I'm here serving the pangolins. In the morning, I wake up, I check the pungols, I take them out in the field to feed them.

SPEAKER_06 1:52

A call came in from a villager nearby. He has spotted a strange animal in his garden. Most people around are farmers, and when they encounter pangolins, they are torn between eating them, killing them, or reporting to authorities. Despite harsh wildlife laws, conservationists say trafficking networks continue to adapt, putting increasing pressure on the shy nocturnal animals. As police and Uganda Wildlife Authority continue to intercept illegal Pangolin activity, some sell the animal to poachers and buy food with the money.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Also, I show them that if you become greedy, however much we are putting some alternatives, and you become greedy for you, you want to continue because you want more money from wildlife, then there is a role. The row will take you, you will be arrested. So sometimes some people are not aware that if you kill a pangolin, for example, you can get imprisoned even for life. So when you tell them that, oh my god, they get surprised because they didn't know.

SPEAKER_06 3:06

We are joining the rescuers in the field. As we drive a rinitwe tells us their aim is to prevent poaching at the source. In a few minutes, we arrive at Befe Kuheka Robert's home. He is still working in the garden, but takes a moment to bring a sack in which there is a pangolin. It's a white-bellied pangolin very skilled in climbing trees.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

This village is called Tanyasande. I'm a farmer. I was just working on my garden. I found an animal of which I didn't identify. So when I tried to touch on him or her, it rolls up. I caught it, then kept on my container. I tried to go outside in the center to see whether somebody will know about this animal.

SPEAKER_06 4:05

Only trained personnel are allowed to hold pangolins here because I was almost cutting it with my panga. Back at the rescue center, pangolins stay in rehabilitation, but every day they are brought into the forest to walk and feed. We walk through Alice to access their burrows where they stay. It's mystical here, and the shy animals get to regain their natural behavior. This way, Arinitwe and his rescue team also learn more about them.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Every morning and every evening, we take them out in the bush so that they can walk on their own, they can move around, we just keep an eye. And uh they feed, they move around, they climb trees. But also in that process, we are learning about them. Because very little is still known about pangolins, and therefore, by taking them out in the bush and walking them, we are also getting information on what we actually need to do next.

SPEAKER_06 5:18

Once it's determined they can survive on their own, Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers are contacted to release them back into protected areas of the wild. Uganda is home to the four African pangolin species, including the black-bellied, giant ground and teming ground. Since it was set up 10 years ago, they've rescued and released 187 pangolins back into the wild.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

So we go out in communities, teaching, we go into schools teaching about pangolins, how a pangolin looks like and uh how harmless they are, so that even more community members can join us in protecting them.

SPEAKER_06 6:18

Even with the intelligence-led Uganda Wildlife Crime Unit, trafficking networks continue to adapt. In November 2024, four Chinese nationals were arrested with more than 9 kilograms of pangolin scales. Uganda has tough anti-poaching laws and it has sent a poacher to prison for life. But wildlife advocates say that the approach needs to shift to communities. Gladys Kamasano is the chief magistrate, Uganda Wildlife Court.

SPEAKER_05 6:52

We have seen some of them get to know it's criminal to engage in certain activities when it is too late, because it is too late, they have already committed an offense. They've already been arrested, they are in the criminal justice system. Again, because they don't know. Sometimes when they are already going through the criminal justice system, a few will believe they are being persecuted because they take their actions as normal. So you find that the enforcement teams will not be understood properly why they have to, for example, arrest. Imagine being prosecuted for what someone thinks is not criminal enough.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

So I find we have been kidding innocent creatures unknowingly, but because of sensitization, we got it. Then decided to join this Moses and the team because now I work with him. Then they gave us some projects like the beekeeping, we have pig value projects, so we are earning from there, and now there's no need for going back for hunting.

SPEAKER_06 8:24

But it is expensive to convince poachers to leave the trade.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Sometimes some people are poachers because of the situation, not necessarily because they are bad people, and that's why we say put something in place to stop something. So we have projects like uh beak eating, fish farming, vegetables growing, um, piggering, got railing. Those projects have actually helped us a lot in convincing the poachers to become reformed poachers.

SPEAKER_06 9:06

Conservation groups estimate over one million pangolins were trafficked in the last decade, along with global seizures of more than seven tons of pangolin scales. In Uganda, the pangolins are just one item in the country's big picture for tourism and conservation. Until then, conservationists like Moses Arinitwe are protecting one of the world's most trafficked animals, one rescue at a time.