Hundreds Of Confiscated Pangolins Are Being Rescued By Save Vietnam's Wildlife

A speeding car refusing to stop for a routine check was a sure sign to the northern Vietnam’s police that the driver had something to hide. They speed-chased car for a while, fired warning shots in the air, but managed o stop it only after shooting its tires. Inside, they found 118 tightly wrapped critically endangered pangolins, bagged and piled one atop of the other, with no access for food, water or air.

This is a video of animal cruelty at its finest. The hundreds of rescued pangolins are tied up in some kind of green net, taken out of the vehicle and carefully placed into Save Vietnam Wildlife boxes. Good thing for the 113 pangolins that the rescuers saved in time. For five of these critically endangered species, the rescue, unfortunately, came too late.

The pangolin looks like a cross between an anteater and a lizard, and is known to roll into a ball when threatened. It is a unique looking mammal, very obscure for most people, and still, you will be amazed to learn that this is the most frequently trafficked animal in the world, sought for both its meat and the supposed medicinal properties of its scales.

Fortunately, there are NGO’s like Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW) which are devoted to rescuing and releasing pangolins back in the wild. They work closely with Vietnam’s police officers in handling and caring for the confiscated pangolins; they also have built rescue centers where the endangered species are rehabilitated and waiting to be released. Sometimes, all you need is good and kind people to do something incredibly nice like this and make the world a better place.