A national non-profit organisation Save Vietnam’s Wildlife on Tuesday released the largest-ever figure of 46 Java pangolins to Cuc Phuong National Park in northern Vietnam.

These pangolins were rescued from illegal trafficking in northern Thai Binh province, reported Vietnam’s state-run news agency VNA.

Earlier, local authorities detected a truck carrying 61 live pangolins and 37 big-headed turtles. As many as nine pangolins were killed due to serious injuries during transportation. While the remaining are receiving treatment to recover, the 46 healthy pangolins have been released to wildlife with a identification chip on each.

Nguyen Van Thai, director of Save Vietnam’s Wildlife, said on VNA that Vietnam needs to improve law enforcement and stop consumption unless the pangolins here will disappear due to wildlife trafficking.

Pangolin meat is prized as a delicacy in Asian economies such as Vietnam, while the animal’s scales are used in traditional medicines.

Shy and near-sighted, pangolins only venture out from the safety of their burrows or tree-top homes at night to scour for insects. When startled, they curl up into a ball – a technique that is futile against the cable snares set by hunters.

Although the pangolin trade is illegal in Vietnam and they are in the government’s “red book” of endangered species, law enforcement remains weak.

Authorities have even been caught selling the endangered animals after seizing them from poachers, according to media reports.

– with other agencies; Global Times and AFP