Hetauda, April 21 -- The rescue of a mother pangolin and her baby from a cowshed in Makawanpur district last week has brought fresh attention to a quiet but sustained conservation efforts led by a community forest for the past two decades.

Manish Devkota of ward 3 in Makawanpurgadhi Rural Municipality found the animals late at night on Wednesday after his dogs began barking and tried to attack them. "I woke up to the noise and saw the pangolins in the shed. The dogs were about to harm them, so I stepped in and saved them," said Devkota. He later handed the animals over to Rani Community Forest Users Group in Chaughada in ward 6 of Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City, in the presence of ward chief Bishnu Prasad Dahal.

According to Bhimsen Paud...