If you're like me, when it comes to animal protection you spend your time holding out for good news stories. Whether it's gorilla numbers rebounding or elephant poaching being eliminated, those headlines are the goal we're all in this game for.
And I really, truly wish this could be one of those stories. But it's not.
Because this one's about pangolins.
There's simply no way to tell their story that's anything other than heartbreaking. These little guys have been waddling with us since the dinosaurs, and in the blink of an eye they're being driven to extinction, ground to a powder to feed the pointless demand for their scales.
By the end of today, dozens of pangolins that are currently keeping themselves to themselves will have been ripped from the wild and slaughtered. By the end of next week, that number could be in the thousands.
And for traffickers, that simply means more cash in the bank. The pangolin is just one animal among many that they're ruthlessly eliminating - the same gangs are often responsible for the butchering of tigers or the beheading of hornbills for trinkets.
We have to bring them down.
Pledge now that you will support pangolins. Pledge you will help fund their protection. Pledge you won't let them die without resistance.
Because while time isn't on our side, if we can all act now there's still enough of it left to save these brilliant animals - and avoid the gory ending to their story that they don't deserve.
