Sanctuary Stories
Pangolin Rescue Center Reminds Us That the Animals Are Not to Blame
It is the exploitation of threatened animals like Polly which likely caused the COVID-19 pandemic; advocates hope it will be a wake-up call
To those of us in the Western world, the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it an introduction to an animal many had never before heard of: the pangolin. “Some western countries, even South American, they do not know about the pangolins,” says Dung Nguyen, communications officer at Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW). “When we talk about the pangolin, some people say: ‘Penguin?,’” she laughs.
Recently, however, pangolins are making headline news around the world, due to their possible connection to the origins of the novel coronavirus. But Nguyen wants the world to understand that pangolins are not the ones at fault. Rather, she says, it is the trafficking of pangolins by humans, that is at the real root of this pandemic.
Due to their shy and timid nature, pangolins are especially easy to catch. “When they are threatened, they just curl as a ball, a very little one, and they don’t run away.”
