Update on Wanjala, the orphan pangolin

A photo of Wanjala just after release (c) LWT

Fantastic news from Lilongwe Wildlife Trust, our long-term partners in Malawi. After months of their painstaking care, supported by your kind donations to our recent Plight of the Pangolin appeal, Wanjala the young pangolin has successfully been returned to the wild. 

With your help, this has been an incredible journey. Wanjala was a tragic victim of wildlife crime – gentle pangolins are sought after by poachers for their unique scales, as well as meat. She was only 3kg (6lbs) and sickly, dehydrated and close to death when confiscated by the Malawi authorities.

Fortunately, Wanjala was brought to Lilongwe Wildlife Centre – in Malawi’s capital city. Her name means ‘hungry’, because she wouldn’t stop eating when she arrived! At first, she needed regular bottle-feeds of a special milk formula, before gradually transitioning to an adult diet of ants and termites.

Thankfully, apart from being extremely hungry, Wanjala was otherwise healthy. The team decided she was ready to be taken to their special pangolin rehabilitation site, in a secret, protected part of Malawi.

Wanjala earlier this year (c) LWT

Thanks to her caretakers’ round-the-clock expert care, Wanjala steadily gained weight and confidence. She was taken for early morning walks, learning how to dig to find plenty of insects to devour.

A few weeks later, a wonderful day dawned. Wanjala had recovered so well she was ready to be fitted with a small satellite tag, then released into a protected area. By now she had more than doubled in size and weighed a fantastic 6.44kg.

Thanks to her tag, the team could keep a watchful eye on her progress. Just a few weeks later, by her first official check-up, she had increased in weight to 7.36kg and trekked several kilometres around the parkland area.

What a success story! Thank you for the invaluable part you have played in Wanjala’s rehabilitation. With the help of your donations, our Plight of the Pangolins appeal raised an astounding £55,000 to protect and care for these mysterious, secretive animals.

You are helping rescue other pangolins in need, but also to stop ruthless criminal gangs, and keep pangolins safe in the wild, where they belong. With your help, Born Free’s Policy team is speaking out for pangolins at vital global meetings and lobbying decision-makers to give pangolins better protection against wildlife traffickers.

Meanwhile in Cameroon, our major new conservation initiative, the Guardians of Dja, is helping protect rare pangolins, as well as gorillas, chimpanzees, forest elephants and other species, in the Dja Biosphere Reserve – one of the largest rainforests in the world.