A local independent toy shop in Okehampton is helping to raise money for the protection of the most trafficked mammal in the world.

To mark World Pangolin Day, February 15, The Toy Shop in Red Lion Yard is working together with the Umoya Khulula Wildlife Centre in Tzaneen, South Africa, to help protect and rehabilitate their native pangolin species.

Each purchase of a Eugy self-assembly 3D pangolin toy will see 100 per cent of the proceeds go to the cause.

The non-profit rehabilitation centre for native South African wildlife operates as a 24-hour wildlife centre working on the rescue, rehabilitation and eventual release of native wildlife.

The pangolins they rescue are housed offsite at an undisclosed location for their safety and that of the rescue team. They are confiscated from poachers involved in the illegal wildlife trade and eventually reintroduced into the wild.

The Toy Shop owner Jade Oliver-Deacon said: “The Umoya Khulula Wildlife Centre was featured on one of Steve Backshall's programmes and showed the work that the centre was doing to protect and rehabilitate the pangolins. It was exactly the type of charity I was looking to support.

“These harmless, cute mammals are being persecuted and killed for their scales. A lot of people in East Asia believe they have medicinal properties but they don’t.”

The build-your-own pangolin toy has been donated by Brainstorm Limited, a leading supplier of innovative and educational toys for the fundraising initiative.

A spokesperson for the wildlife centre said: “Jade and her sons came up with the idea that all proceeds from each sale of these adorable pangolins will help save a pangolin in need. If you love pangolins then these are a must for World Pangolin Day on February 15.”

Three-hundred pangolins are trafficked worldwide each day with all species either vulnerable or on the endangered list.