When police chased down a car that didn’t obey orders to stop for a routine check on the road in Vietnam, they might have suspected something fishy was going on, but they never would have expected this.
Cops chased the car as it sped dangerously away, and when a warning shot did nothing to subdue the runner, they had to shoot its tires to stop it.
The car crashed, and two men leaped out and attempted to run.
One of them, the driver, was successfully arrested, but the other escaped. The chase was nothing compared to what was inside the vehicle.
There were 118 pangolins – a species that is critically endangered – forcibly cramped together inside the small space of the vehicle.
They were wrapped in bags, with no food or water in sight. It looked pretty grim, but luckily, 113 of them were alive.
Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW) swooped in to the rescue and were able to provide emergency care for the surviving pangolins.
They unwrapped each animal and carefully moved them into boxes for transport – an effort which took hours and finished only at two in the morning.
They were then brought back to the rescue center, where they enjoyed water and frozen ant eggs.
Pangolins are the most trafficked animal on earth, moved to East Asia to be killed for meat or scales, which many believe can act as medicine.
Every five minutes, one of these precious animals is captured, and many are force-fed corn powder or injected with water in order to increase their weight for higher sales.
The SVW currently has 139 pangolins in their protection, which require about 35kg of food per day – and this costs the organization a lot of money. $10 can help to buy 1kg of this food.
Would you like to help? You can donate to the cause here.
Share away, people.
