The Story Behind The Protector
Have you ever spotted a pangolin in the wild?
Despite spending nearly 30 years on safari across Africa, I haven’t. These elusive, armored anteaters are like ghosts of the wilderness—difficult to find, yet tragically, they hold the grim title of being the most trafficked mammals on Earth.
Two decades ago, my debut novel Far Horizon tackled elephant poaching. Sadly, the illegal wildlife trade remains one of the top five organized crimes globally. It’s a relentless battle, and when one of my readers, Lauren, suggested I write about pangolins, I knew it was time. But gaining access to the secretive world of pangolin conservation wasn’t easy—until Lauren introduced me to Professor Ray Jansen, one of Africa’s leading pangolin experts.
That introduction opened doors I never imagined. I witnessed an undercover sting operation in Hoedspruit, South Africa, where poachers were caught red-handed. I visited a hidden wildlife rescue center, met the dedicated people fighting to save these animals, and uncovered the shocking scale of the illegal pangolin trade.
Pangolins are slaughtered for their scales—composed of nothing more than keratin, the same material as human fingernails. Yet in traditional Chinese medicine, these scales are wrongly believed to cure ailments and even enhance lactation. Because of this baseless superstition, pangolins are being pushed to the brink of extinction.
Professor Jansen, founder of the African Pangolin Working Group, shared a staggering statistic: in just eight years leading up to 2023, over half a million pangolins were trafficked out of Africa. And that’s only what was intercepted—experts estimate the real number is 10 to 20 times higher.
The COVID-19 pandemic, initially suspected to have links to pangolins in wildlife markets, forced the trade further underground. Today, it’s deeply entrenched in global organized crime networks, making it more dangerous than ever to fight back.
In The Protector, my protagonist, Professor Denise Rado, is inspired by real-life conservationists like Professor Jansen—people who don’t just study these creatures but actively infiltrate poaching syndicates. During my research, I learned just how deadly this work can be. While I was writing this book, one of Professor Jansen’s undercover agents was ambushed and assassinated by traffickers. The fight to save pangolins isn’t just about conservation—it’s a war.
Professor Jansen puts it bluntly: “Pangolins are the most poached mammals on the planet, and their demise is purely at the hands of mankind. If we don’t act now, they’ll be gone forever.”
I hope The Protector not only entertains you but also sheds light on the courageous people risking everything to save these incredible animals. Their story deserves to be told.