ISLAMABAD: Wildlife officials on Sunday foiled an attempt to smuggle a critically endangered pangolin in the capital.

The staff of Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) traced a leaked video to a house in E-7 sector.

The video showed a Chinese national mercilessly dragging a pangolin in his house. With the help of Kohsar police station, the IWMB staff raided the house.

“The residents were least cooperative. When we gained access into the house with the assistance of the police, we recovered the pangolin in a tightly sealed box, as if it was just about to be shipped,” Protection In-charge Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) Zaheer Khan told Dawn.

Zaheer Khan said pangolins were listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically endangered.

“The Chinese like its meat and pangolin soup. Its scales are believed to be used in making bulletproof jackets,” he said, adding that “the rescued pangolin was an adult, in the prime of its life”.

The IWMB will monitor its health for the next 24 hours or for three days at the most to see to it whether the pangolin could be released into its natural habitat. Last week, the IWMB rescued a pangolin from Kohat, and was released into the wild.

Zaheer Khan said the Chinese national had refused to give his name. “However, after nominating him in the first information report (FIR), the IWMB will be approaching the ministries of interior and foreign affairs as well as the Chinese embassy for his expulsion from Pakistan.

Zaheer Khan said rescuing pangolins and black bears went down well on their resumes.

“There is a dire need to protect these animals, which are on the verge of extinction,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2023