I’VE BEEN SEARCHING for a pangolin ever since I moved from New York to South Africa, almost six years ago. Pangolins, which look like scaly anteaters, are the world’s most-trafficked mammal—their scales coveted for use in traditional Asian medicines, much like rhino horn. Given the volumes at which pangolins are poached for illegal export to Asia, I would have thought they’d be easier to find.
It got even harder this year. South Africa has enforced one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, banning (at various points since…
