GJ and Jana Hoffman, The House of Manidae
522 Warren Street, right next to City Hall
300 pangolins are killed every day. The critically-endangered mammal is covered in scales made of keratin (similar to fingernails) which is used in traditional medicine, despite not having any known medicinal properties.
GJ and Jana came to Hudson from South Africa, and just opened up shop last week. (They have a lot of energy for a couple that had six children!) Their store is filled with African art, stuffed animals, jewelry, books, baskets, and other products, often recycled/upcycled, and repurposed. Proceeds from sales help the endangered pangolins.
The name of the store, House of Manidae, refers to the scientific name of the pangolin species.
Basket made from recycled food bags from a Rwandan refugee camp.
When you get a chance, stop in and say Hi! They are a great addition to Hudson, and I’m happy that they chose our little city.
Welcome to Hudson, House of Manidae!
Hi! Welcome to New York State. I am curious as to how proceeds are funneled into pangolin conservation, and I’m assuming that you’re concentrating on African pangolins. I’m associated with SaveVietnam’s Wildlife in northern Vietnam, and provide veterinary services to them at their northern rescue center anout an hour and a half from Hanoi. The next time I’m in the Hudson area I will stop in to the store. Keep up the good work.
Hi there, many thanks for nice welcome to New York! We work in association with &beyond Phinda pangolin reintroduction project. Craig Sholto-Douglas is the head of their team, he is doing amazing job on the grounds! We recently funded the Phinda Conservation Initiative, Community Conservation Course and Pangolin monitoring project which educates the community bordering these parks and teaches broad based conservation with a focus on pangolins. The idea behind this project is to educate, and ultimately, show value in their wildlife heritage. As would be expected, our focus is on the temminck’s ground pangolin. We feel that a long term outlook could be the most effective tool for sustainable conservation. On an annual basis we cede percentage of revenue to sustain these causes. We also have in store educational material, fact sheets as well as pangolin designs of which proceeds will be donated. There is a QR link that our costumers can use to inform and donate directly to Phinda conservation as well. Please stop by when in town! We really look forward to meeting you and showing you what we are all about. And thank you for your work, we as a like minded conservation community need to focus our efforts towards some kind of viable solution for this sad predicament the pangolins and wild life find themselves in.
Best wishes
Jana & GJ