A Vietnamese wildlife conservation program has coordinated with an international fund to release 24 pangolins, an endangered wildlife species, back to their natural habitat in central Vietnam, as the animals have recovered after a period of rehabilitation.

These pangolins were among many wild animals rescued from traffickers and given care at the Cuc Phuong Phuong National Park in the northern province of Ninh Binh.

The release was carried out at 9:00 pm on November 22 in four locations in a forest in central Vietnam, under the coordination of the Carnivore & Pangolin Conservation Program (CPCP) and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

The CPCP is a cooperative program between the park and the Save Vietnam’s Wildlife, a national non-profit organization, committed to protecting and increasing populations of threatened wildlife in the Southeast Asian country.

As pangolins are more active at night than during the day, the releases were organized in the evening across four sites at least 300 meters apart. 

Of the 24 pangolins, 11 had been handed over to the park by the forest protection sub-department of Hoa Binh and Ninh Binh Provinces in northern Vietnam, said Nguyen Van Thai, director of Save Vietnam’s Wildlife.

These 11 pangolins had been kept in reticule bags and were fed with improper food leaving them very weak, Thai said.

Pangolins are facing extinction, so releasing these endangered animals back into their natural habitat will help increase their population, Thai said, adding that Save Vietnam’s Wildlife released 35 other pangolins in June this year.

In order to protect the released animals from being harmed or recaptured again by poachers, relevant forest protection forces need to strengthen patrols to detect and arrest any violators of wildlife, Thai added.    

Tran Quang Phuong, who manages the CPCP, said dozens of pangolins seized in wildlife trafficking cases by competent agencies in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa are also being cared under the program, waiting for release.

Pursuant to current regulations, such animals are exhibits in criminal cases and can be released only when the cases have been tried by courts and when a decision on handling them has been issued, Phuong explained.

On November 10, Phuong said that more than 30 pangolins had died at the Cuc Phuong National park after living in captivity for months instead of being released to their natural habitat, the result of legal inflexibility. 

The dead anteaters were among more than 70 pangolins rescued from illegal wildlife traders and brought to the reserve three months ago, Phuong said.