Trenggiling Conservation Program
Trenggiling Conservation Program
In 2014, Czech conservationists, together with their Indonesian colleagues, began to protect greater slow lorises on the Indonesian island of Sumatra as part of The Kukang Rescue Program. In 2021, a program for the protection of Sunda pangolins called the Trenggiling Conservation Program (trenggiling means pangolin in Indonesian) was subsequently created as a sister program of this program for the conservation of slow lorises. Its main goal is to reduce the illegal trade in pangolins and the decline of their populations in the wild.
Threats to pangolins
Pangolins are unique animals that have become the most smuggled mammals in the world. They are the world's only mammals to have their bodies covered with scales. Although these scales were created by the transformation of hair and are formed from keratin, i.e. same as the hair, hair, nails, claws, hooves, or horns of other mammals, there is a great demand for them by humans - similar to the horns of rhinos. Some traditional Asian and African cultures believe in their alleged magical and healing effects. This happens even though, as in the case of rhinoceros horns, there is no scientific research that would confirm their healing effect. Due to the demand for pangolin scales, but also for their meat, these animals are on the verge of extinction. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, all 8 pangolin species are at risk of extinction, and international trade in pangolins or parts of their bodies is completely prohibited. Even so, it is estimated that over a million pangolins have been poached in the last 10 years. In Indonesia, it is estimated that up to 10,000 Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) are caught annually.
Activities of the Trenggiling Conservation Program
As part of the project, there is active cooperation with local people on the direct protection of pangolins, such as the employment of former pangolin hunters as project field assistants, who, thanks to this support and cooperation, have stopped hunting pangolins and other endangered animals, and instead have become their protectors. The key content of the program is also the education and training of the local community to reduce hunting pressure on wild populations of pangolins and raise awareness of their threat, protection status, and, among other things, the penalties for hunting, selling, or buying pangolins and their scales. In addition, near Medan, the capital of Sumatra, a rescue and rehabilitation centre for critically endangered Sunda pangolins has been established, where, in cooperation with the responsible Indonesian authorities, pangolins seized from the black market will be placed, to release them back into the wild in the future. Last but not least, one of the fundamental activities of the program is also building a Czech-Indonesian team of nature conservationists - so that the Indonesians themselves protect their nature.
You can learn more at www.trenggiling.org.
How Ostrava Zoo helps
Ostrava Zoo is the main partner of the program. At the end of 2019, the Ostrava Zoo launched a public fundraiser to support the construction and operation of the rescue and rehabilitation centre for pangolins. You can contribute to it, for example, through a special coin machine located in the Wanderu Pavilion or directly by sending any amount of money to the collection account (no: 123-658580267/0100). In 2021, the 5th year of the Ostrava Zoo Run was dedicated to the protection of pangolins in Sumatra. Since 2022, the zoo together with its visitors has been supporting the program through its “3 CZK for Wildlife” program.
