Flo Blackbourn, Rescue & Care Officer

Rearing pangolins is extremely difficult and, as with nurturing most orphaned mammals, can be a full-time, 24 hours-a-day venture, not least regular bottle-feeds of a special milk formula. With the help of an experienced veterinarian, who joined the team specially, the team successfully reared the pangolin – named ‘Nguindolo’ (‘King of the Forest Spirit’) in a Born Free supporter poll. This included several difficult spells when Nguindolo became ill – not unusual for mammals rescued at a young age as they are so vulnerable, but thankfully he came out the other side a healthy pangolin.

By December 2022, Nguindolo had been weaned from milk feeds to termites and ants and was in the routine of going to the forest to forage for these insects each night, with help from his Ba’aka carers – locally employed tribespeople. He gradually became more independent, going out alone to feed for a few hours in the evening and then again before dawn, as pangolins are primarily nocturnal. He would be weighed before and after feeding sessions to ensure he had been successful in his foraging.

Then, in mid-January 2023 his sleeping box was found empty, and he was not seen returning to it again. It can be worrying not knowing the location of an animal which has been hand-reared but, with the forest heavily protected by local people, and with no poorly pangolins having been found, we can assume Nguindolo had begun to live truly independently – which is precisely the aim of rehabilitation