BHOPAL: Sniffer dogs helping crack crime is common knowledge. They are now being put to good use in the jungles of Madhya Pradesh, to identify safe homes for the critically endangered pangolin, one of the most trafficked of mammalian species. A first-of-its-kind research project by the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) and MP Forest Department to develop ecology-based conservation strategies for the Indian pangolin, has led to the successful rehabilitation of at least 15 of them in the Pench and Satpura Tiger Reserves. They were confiscated by the state forest department from smugglers. What’s more, five of the 13 rehabilitated females have started reproducing after mating with wild males in the same forests.
The two canines are an integral part of rehabilitation, especially trained as they are in the scent of pangolins for finding the right and safest homes for them in the wild.
“The dogs are the starting point of the entire model that was launched in 2019-end. They actually sniff the unique scent of pangolins in existing boroughs, to first trace the borough used by wild pangolins in the past. Camera traps are then placed to figure out whether those boroughs are currently inhabited by wild pangolins or not to ensure that the confiscated ones are freed in secluded and safe boroughs. The database of the empty boroughs is subsequently used to release radio tagged pangolins into the wild,” said conservation biologist Aditya Joshi, who heads the WCT’s Conservation Research Division. Radio tags help the researchers monitor their survival, life cycle in the wild and how they are contributing to breeding.
Three-pronged strategy
“This is the first time that a three-pronged strategy, using sniffer dogs, camera traps and radio telemetry has been used not just to reunite the confiscated Indian pangolins with the wild, but also study their post rehab life. The post rehab study is particularly helping our teams monitor the home ranges of the released pangolins, which keep varying with seasons. It will take two-three years more to actually get reliable data on the home range variations,” Joshi said.
The study which involves the state forest department staff, field biologists and veterinarians of WCT, besides vets of the two tiger reserves, has so far helped establish the importance of four key parameters for successful rehabilitation - timing, transportation, veterinary health care and ideal site selection.
Since smuggling is a multi-layered trade, it’s hard to detect for how long they’ve been in captivity, as they often are starved to death for want of their prey base of ants and termites. The confiscated pangolins are often malnourished and dehydrated, which raises the importance of timely veterinary health care to save and revive them before even planning their rehabilitation.
“The confiscated pangolins, after being properly hydrated, were transported in specially developed protective boxes (using past successful practices of African nations) into the wild. Based on the database of the ideal sites (boroughs) developed through site selection from sniffer dogs and camera traps, the pangolins were subsequently released into the wild. The study revealed that secluded mixed forests which are free from human presence (and even wild pangolins), have good undercover (proper depths of ant and termite populations) with adequate water availability, like nullahs, are the most ideal sites for rehabilitation,” Joshi maintained.
According to deputy director of Pench Tiger Reserve Rajnish Kumar Singh, “The study will go a long way in knowing the ecology of pangolins, which have been saved from the jaws of death. It will particularly help in deciding which is the best forest area to release the confiscated pangolins and studying how far they travel in different seasons after rehabilitation.”
Indiscriminate poaching
Pangolins are nocturnal and toothless mammals, and their bodies are covered with scales. Over the years, their population has declined in the wild due to indiscriminate poaching, illegal trade of live pangolins and their body parts, and habitat loss.
India is home to two of the world’s eight pangolin species — the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) and the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). It’s the Indian pangolin that is found in the central Indian landscape. Due to increased trafficking and smuggling, particularly to China, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations, pangolins are on the endangered and critically endangered lists under the IUCN Red List. They are ecologically important for regulating ant and termite populations, thereby controlling disease in forest trees. Pangolins are also considered as habitat engineers as they dig soil to live and feed, helping soil aeration and mineral fixation.
Though their natural predators are large cats (like lion, tiger and leopards), bears, pythons, hyenas and crocodiles, it’s the human poachers who’ve emerged as their main enemy. The MP Forest Department, particularly, through its state tiger strike force (STSF), has succeeded in breaking the international pangolin nexus. Since September 2014, the STSF has lodged 22 cases of pangolin smuggling/trafficking and arrested at least 225 people. They include the big fish like Jaiy Tamang and Lua Goddin.
The arrested traffickers/smugglers revealed a thriving market for pangolin scales and meat in South East Asia. Their scales are used for superstitious practices and are also linked with the narcotics industry. Even live pangolins are now being trafficked for domestication as a good omen.
Nearly 6,000 pangolins were reportedly poached in India between 2009 and 2017, with Manipur and Tamil Nadu emerging as smuggling hotspots, according to a 2018 report.