Students in Ukhrul Join Fight to Save Endangered Pangolins

Imphal: Students at Pettigrew College in Ukhrul are learning how to save the Chinese pangolin. The group ENFOGAL teamed up with the college Zoology Department to host an event called Play for Pangolin. It ditches dusty lectures for interactive games. Organizers want to spark real interest in wildlife protection.

The event is a piece of the Community-Led Conservation of Chinese Pangolin in Manipur project. Backing comes from GreenHub and Royal Enfield. They aim to teach students why the pangolin, or Shaphu in Meitei, faces such a brutal survival crisis. Poachers hunt these scaly mammals for their scales. Those scales feed a black market for luxury goods and traditional medicine.

Pangolins are listed as Critically Endangered. While protected by national laws and the international treaty known as CITES, they remain among the most trafficked animals on the planet. Officials from the Central Forest Division now ask the public to report any suspicious activity involving wildlife trafficking.

Chingrisoror Rumthao, a field officer with the Wildlife Trust of India, spoke at the event. He urged the students to take ownership of the crisis. "A species can vanish in silence long before we notice its absence. The pangolin's survival depends not on what we know, but on what we choose to protect before it's too late — and that choice belongs to every community, every leader, every one of us," said Rumthao.

The program highlights a simple goal. It wants to turn students into local advocates for the species. Protecting the local biodiversity requires teamwork between schools, communities, and conservation groups.