Pangolin numbers are dwindling at alarming rates - in South Africa and across the globe - and the future appears bleak for these small, relatively unknown creatures.

On July 10 two men, Nkosikhona Ndebele and Mphumelelo Keya, were arrested in a shopping centre in Muizenberg, Cape Town for the illegal possession of pangolin scales. They will appear in court again in August. A week before a sting operation that led to the arrests, Takalani Mudau was arrested for allegedly trying to sell a live pangolin at a mall in Centurion, Gauteng. Mudau's case has also been postponed.

Reports such as these are common in South Africa and the world. According to Bruce Young, a South African documentary filmmaker and producer of Eye of the Pangolin: The Search for an Animal on the Edge, in the past 10 years, the demand for pangolins has skyrocketed at an alarming rate, despite very few people knowing of their existence and very few arrests being made worldwide.

Also known as scaly anteaters, pangolins are the only mammal completely covered in protective scales. They are found in Asia and Africa, with Asian pangolin numbers now critically low, although accurate estimates are not available. In South...