Giving the world's most trafficked mammal a lifeline

Sperm bank in Singapore among efforts to safeguard the future of the Sunda pangolin

- Ang Qing

As the clock ticked towards the awakening of the sedated Sunda pangolin, veterinarians scanned its vitals before nimbly collecting semen from the critically endangered animal.

The adult male pangolin had been rescued hours earlier on Feb 13 by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) after a resident found it stranded on a gate in a housing estate in northern Singapore.

Not a drop of semen was spilt by staff from Mandai Wildlife Group, as they took pains to study and store the sample in a sperm bank that could give the world’s most trafficked mammal a lifeline in the future.

This comes as pangolin populations are declining across the globe, despite legal protection to shield eight of its species from extinction.

In the last decade alone, an estimated one million pangolins were poached to feed the illegal appetite for the species’ meat, skin and scales, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

While poaching remains low in Singapore, conservationists said motor vehicles have become the greatest threat to their survival here, following a dramatic increase over the past three years in the number of pangolins killed in road accidents.

In conjunction with World Pangolin Day on Feb 17, The Straits Times takes stock of national efforts to save the native mammal, which plays an important role in the ecosystem by controlling populations of ants and termites.

Dr Charlene Yeong, a veterinarian at Mandai Wildlife Group and its conservation arm, said Singapore enjoys the privilege of being home to healthy wild pangolins.

She said: “Most of the ones seen by humans are those that go through the wildlife trade, many of which are in very poor health.”

The nocturnal creatures are so elusive that little is known about them, including how many there are in Singapore.