“Since I started working with the Libassa Wildlife Sanctuary, I feel like the animals are a part of me,” Deh Jr. tells CNN. “So whenever I see someone hurting an animal, I feel like they are hurting me personally.”
Deh Jr. joined the shelter when it opened five years ago and says he has cared for more than 70 pangolins during that time, most of which were brought here by the Liberia Forestry Development Authority after being confiscated, transferred or orphaned. as a result of the bushmeat trade. .
Many people also live in forested areas. In Liberia, wild meat has long been eaten, from primates to civets (feline mammals), and the pangolin is considered a delicacy. Deh Jr. grew up eating an animal, which he is ashamed of today. “With a child living with parents, you have no choice because you cannot provide yourself with food,” he explains. “So even if you don’t want to eat bushmeat, you just have to.”
international trade
But in recent years, another threat to local pangolins has emerged. Susan Viper, director of the Libasa Wildlife Sanctuary, says some people are killing the animal to meet demand from China and Vietnam, where its scales are used in traditional medicine.
Their scaly armor protects them from almost all predators except one. “Pangolins have no natural enemies other than humans,” says Deh Jr. “If they are frightened, they curl up into a ball, and no other animal can budge through the scales. But (it) also allows people to just take it and do whatever we want with it.”
However, she still hopes things will change. She says the Liberia Forestry Development Authority is playing an increasingly active role in the confiscation of protected species taken from the wild.
The reserve has welcomed almost 600 animals in the past four years, from pangolins to pygmy crocodiles, monkeys and more, Viper said. She says the main goal is to rehabilitate and return to the forest as many of Liberia’s wildlife as possible.
For Deha Jr., there are few bigger awards than this one. “When you bring it back into the wild, you really feel proud,” he says. “You feel like you’re moving forward because you’re really saving small animals.”
