This year I read two Dutch-language travel books about one animal species. With a corresponding message, how they are threatened with extinction.

In Wally en wij (Dutch) Irwan Droog travels after the walrus Wally. This walrus became world famous by showing itself in several European coastal towns. Like at the lighthouse on the Irish Valencia Island and on the British and French coasts. Irwan tries to answer the question of why Wally was there, how Wally's arrival was experienced by local people and how this species is increasingly under pressure from climate change, among other things. Surprisingly interesting.

“At that time the price of walrus skin had risen due to the discovery that it was excellent for polishing bicycle parts.” – Wally en wij (Dutch)

Anne Broeksma has an obsession with a completely different animal that needs protection. The pangolin. In Een verhaal met schubben (A story with scales) she follows the trail of various pangolins in both Africa and Asia. But apart from a pangolin shelter where she works as a volunteer, she doesn't see the scale animal in the wild. However, she does find how the pangolins is a 'walking bag of money' for humans. The reason that the pangolin is still being hunted for despite the fact that it is seriously threatened. A nice and sad book about one of the most special animal species on earth.

“The pangolin helped me get off the couch, focus on a defined subject and discover the wild beauty of the world, which still exists. Reading a lot of news makes me feel down. I can't fit a hundred catastrophes in my head, but it does fit one strangely scaly tree dragon.”