Young girl from Northamptonshire raises £300 to save the pangolins after climbing Mount Snowden through a storm

An eight-year-old girl from Northamptonshire has raised £300 for the conservation of pangolins after summitting Mount Snowdon during a storm.

Emily Otty decided to support the wildlife charity Born Free, which campaigns to conserve the endangered mammals, after she studied them last year in school.

When she found out her family were going on holiday to Wales, she saw an opportunity to make a difference and set her goals sky-high.

Emily said: "I wanted to do it to raise money for the pangolins because not many people even know what they are. I hoped that it would help them out.

"I studied them at school last year and I don’t like what people do to them in certain places people treat them very inhumanely for food and ‘medicine’ and they can’t defend themselves. People rip their skulls off and it makes me feel sad.

"Most of the people that I asked to sponsor me, I had to explain what pangolins were.

“I want people to know what pangolins are going though and what we can do to help stop it.”

The young fundraiser was accompanied on the trek by her sister, (Isabelle), her mum and dad (Emma and Andrew) as well as her uncle and auntie.

Emily said that climbing Snowdon was very hard, but that having her family with her made it easier.

Most importantly of all, however, were her thoughts of the pangolins who she said drove her on to the summit, even as the weather turned hostile.

Her mother, Emma Otty, 42, who works as a teacher, said: “It was all Emily’s idea. When she found out we were going on holiday near Mount Snowdon, she said she wanted to go on a little walk for the pangolins.

“The fact that the conditions got quite difficult and she just kept going makes us really proud.

"We were worried that we might not make it to the top, but she never complained once on the way up or on the way down.”

According to Born Free, the pangolin is one of the most highly-trafficked animals in the world, due to the unproven belief that their scales have medicinal properties.

They are also dealt as a form of luxury food in Asia, such as in places like the notorious wet markets in China, in which animal’s cages are stacked on top of one another before being slaughtered in front of paying customers.

Andrew Otty, 45, Emily’s father, said that his daughter adopting the lesser-known animals’ cause is a good sign for the future.

He said: “It’s really good to see she’s committed to looking after wildlife and interested in fundraising for those things.

“She has that empathy and that care to look after everyone.

"The fact that so few people know about these animals and what they go through (even myself before Emily explained it to me) means she’s thinking about more than just the ‘popular’ animals, if you will.

"She’s really into her animals and she wants to look after them.”

Readers can find out more on Born Free’s website.