Charles Emogor’s passion for pangolins began as a child, when he first saw the unique creature on television. Two decades later, that childhood fascination evolved into a mission to save the critically endangered species.

The 29-year-old PhD student at Cambridge, has dedicated his research since 2019 to understanding and addressing the threats facing pangolins, particularly the white-bellied species in Nigeria. In 2020, he founded Pangolino, a global network of specialists focused on reversing the decline of the world’s most trafficked mammal. 

“Pangolins have been a childhood fascination for me – growing up in southeast Nigeria in a small community, I would see lots of animals around my neighbourhood,” Charles explains. “But when I saw a pangolin on TV for the first time, I was intrigued – it looked so different to anything I’d seen before. Later, I learned that pangolins were the most trafficked animal in the world.”

Much of Charles’ work focuses on behaviour change interventions in Nigeria to protect the white-bellied pangolin. He engages with poachers, school children, regional chiefs and local communities, using a roots up approach because, as he says, if people around the landscape are not willing to protect the species, then interventions will not work. His approach is to co-develop by-laws prohibiting pangolin poaching with communities.

His success in engaging with hunters who poach pangolins has also helped lead Charles to a breakthrough discovery. Hunting pangolins is illegal, and it was widely thought pangolins were hunted primarily for their scales. However, his work has shown that pangolin hunting is mainly motivated by demand for meat, with over 70% of scales derived from captured animals discarded.

Upon learning he had won an IFAW Animal Action Award, Charles said: “I was first skeptical to get this news that I had won this award from IFAW, thinking I was being scammed. This is such a huge award, so in realizing that it is real, I felt humbled. I hope that it will help raise awareness of the plight of the pangolin.”  

Lionel Hachemin, Programme Manager – Wildlife Crime, IFAW said designing interventions at community level that could lead to positive, meaningful and lasting changes is essential to curb the decline of so many species. 

“Pangolins are a unique species that, unfortunately, are the world’s most trafficked mammals and on the brink of extinction. Charles’ work has already helped the conservation community understand more about this species, and I have no doubt he will continue to do great things – he is a very deserving winner of IFAW’s Animal Action Award.”

In addition to his conservation work, Charles is a 2021 National Geographic Explorer and holds an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation from the University of Oxford. He is also a member of the IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group.

When not researching pangolins, Charles’ passion is football and swimming, and he also likes travelling and seeing different mammals on his journeys such as rodents. He also did an eight-hour run around Cambridge dressed as a pangolin in February 2021 to mark World Pangolin Day. The event raised over $10,000, which were all donated to Save Pangolins, a US-based pangolin conservation organization. 

Charles receives his award at IFAW’s prestigious Animal Action Awards event on October 17, at the BAFTA in Piccadilly.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of IFAW.