Natalie's bid to save pangolins
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A CAITHNESS-based animal rights campaigner has started a bid to help save an endangered creature linked to Covid-19.
Natalie Oag, who runs a riding stable in Lyth and works as a model, has set up a GoFundMe page on behalf of the Humane Society International UK (HSI/UK) to save pangolins – a scaly anteater hunted for its scales for use in Chinese traditional medicine.
Natalie said: "Pangolins are the most trafficked mammal in the world – putting them among the most endangered animals on our planet.
"These amazing little prehistoric creatures are shy in character and their bodies on average are covered in 1000 scales from top to tail and can curl into a ball. They are often called scaly anteaters because of their preferred diet and are easily recognised by their full armour of scales."
Natalie says this protection is "sadly not enough to deter humans from illegally hunting them to near extinction".
She explained: "They hunt them by smoking out the terrified little creatures from their nests to sell at a high price."
The pangolin scales are believed in China to possess medicinal properties. Their meat is also considered a delicacy and only the wealthy are able to afford to eat them.
Furthermore, it is thought the trade in pangolins through the Chinese wet markets may also be connected to the global coronavirus epidemic.
Chinese researchers investigating the animal origin of the coronavirus outbreak in China have said that the endangered pangolin may be the “missing link” between the virus moving from bats to humans.
Natalie said: "A wet market is a marketplace where meat and produce is displayed and sold.
"Many wet markets sell live wild animals, which are sometimes slaughtered on site for human consumption. They are known as 'wet' because ice and water sprays, used to keep the goods fresh and to wash away blood, cause the market floors to be wet.
"These wet markets can be stocked through illegal poaching.
"Sadly, these vile places are where the pangolins are sold."
In a recent move by the Chinese government, pangolin scales have been removed from an official 2020 listing of ingredients approved for use in traditional Chinese medicine.
Though the move has been lauded by animal rights campaigners, Natalie fears the illegal trade will continue, however, and more must be done to protect the animal.
"I find it truly heartbreaking and struggle to believe how low humans will go for money," she said.
"Is Covid-19 their revenge on us for bringing them to the edge of extinction? This is not for me to answer – all I know is this poor little prehistoric creature needs saving, and saving fast."
Her crowdfunder has already raised £90 and she hopes to hit a target of £500 to donate to HSI/UK in its fight to save the endangered pangolin and raise awareness of the issue.
"If we could just do our bit we could maybe, just maybe, save this wonderful little creature's life so we don’t have to go and visit him in a museum like all the other animals man has brought to extinction through nothing more than pure, ugly greed."
Donations can be made to Natalie's GoFundMe campaign at www.gofundme.com/f/8vugv-help-save-the-pangolins
