I felt deeply called to help bring awareness to the plight of the pangolin. It was during a recent discussion hosted by animal communicator, Pea Horsley, that I came to learn Pangolin is the most trafficked animal on the planet. 

Below:

• I write more about what I learned about Pangolins.
• I also created a mixed-media art piece of Pangolin that I’m raffling off with 100% of the proceeds to benefit the African Pangolin Working Group. 

PLIGHT OF THE PANGOLIN

Seeing the Pangolin one can’t help but feel called back to a pre-historic and ancient time. This is because the Pangolin has been on the planet for over 50 million years! They are also the only mammal with scales and why they sometimes get mistaken as a reptile.

It’s this uniqueness of having scales that has been the demise of them being the most trafficked mammal on earth.

Gazing at their tiny, pointed face, and small round warm eyes, I was captivated as co-chairperson, Alexis Kriel and volunteer, Gareth, shared stories and educated about Pangolin to well over two hundred people via Zoom – all of whom were just as eager as me to learn about Pangolin.

Admittingly, I had tears in my eyes a few times learning about the plight of Pangolins and how they are ripped out of their natural habitat and how often the young are taken from their mothers.

It’s their scales that are highly coveted that are used in Chinese medicine. Though in one article it was stated that there was an announcement from China in June 2020 that pangolins had been removed from the official list of traditional Chinese medicines. But that hasn’t stopped them from being poached, so the work to protect them and bring awareness continues.

Gareth, a young man, who volunteers with the African Pangolin Working Group shared his experiences in caretaking rescuing, and rehabilitating pangolins. I can’t tell you how often my heart grew ten times its size listening to him speak so eloquently.

He shared that Pangolins being taken care of by humans won’t eat food given to them, no matter how hard you may try. This means volunteers must take the rescued pangolin’s out into the wild every day so they can forage for their food. It’s the only way they will eat which requires being with them in the wild for up to eight hours at a time. Once they are strong enough and rehabilitated they are released back into the wild.

Gareth shared that even in the most difficult situations of how they are taken, he has witnessed pangolin’s ability to forgive and not hold a grudge toward humans. 

While they are quite solitary and won’t seek out humans, they do enjoy connecting with human beings and can be quite affectionate.

Though not always an easy thing to understand Gareth shared that Pangolin has agreed to be in the plight that they are as being the most poached creature. He went on to say that this is an aspect of ourselves and that we’ve chosen this as much as they have.

Much of this is about helping us to make a shift in how we view and interact with nature and how we have lost our way. The pangolin, in Gareth’s eyes, and I must agree, are warriors helping us to remember that when we connect more with nature, the more we become sensitive to her and her creatures.

At one point in the discussion, I heard what I often share also and that a way to help any animal on the planet, including our fellow human beings, is that it begins at home, with ourselves, and healing what needs healing within ourselves in order to help elevate the consciousness of the planet. 

While it’s a human thing to do when one feels the gravity of a situation such as the Pangolin who is walking on the edge of instinction and we can feel helpless about what to do, or that we feel sorry for another being that is suffering it was what Pangolin shared with animal communicator, Pea, that touched me to my core.

Pangolin shared that they don’t want others to feel sorry for them. Instead, they wish for us to change our language around this. When we feel sorry for another being it puts them in victim mode. This is where we as humans can often get stuck.

Instead, Pangolin asks that we energize this in a way of looking at that which we wish to create – a world where animals and humans live in harmony and we get back to respecting and honoring how nature is here supporting us. And that we are part of nature – not separate.

The more we heal ourselves, the more we wish to do better. The more we heal our own wounds and forgive ourselves, we can forgive and have compassion for others who have wounds too.

The African Pangolin Working Group:

The African Pangolin Working Group will strive towards the conservation and protection of all four African pangolin species by generating knowledge, developing partnerships and creating public awareness and education initiatives.”

Pangolin – the venerable ‘wise old man’ of the African bush – is said to be a totem of good luck and the bringer of rain. This enigmatic creature that holds the secrets of 85 million years of evolution is now the most poached mammal on the planet. Find out about the unseen lives of these rare creatures and how you can join us in averting their extinction.

Learn more about them here.

ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN

Dimensional Mixed Media Shadow Box Pangolin Art on 9 x 12 Birchwood

My mixed media is a combination of collage paper, copyright-free images or photos I’ve personally taken, plus gel pens, pastel chalks, paint, stencils, sparkle gems, and dried flowers, twigs, feathers and stones from around Joyful Pause Cottage and/or nature items I find on my morning walks.

100% of the proceeds will be donated to the African Pangolin Working Group.

Open to US residents only due to shipping costs.

One raffle ticket – $5. Purchase here.
Three raffle tickets – $10. Purchase here.
Five raffle tickets – $20. Purchase here.

If you’d rather not use Paypal you can also purchase tickets via my Venmo @Barbara-Techel

The winner will be chosen at random on Tuesday, January 31st, and contacted by email.

XO

Barb

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