CNN.com readers have donated more than US$17,000 to a nature and wildlife conserving group based in Hanoi, with the sum being used to produce a public service announcement to help protect pangolins, one of the endangered species in Vietnam.

The pangolin, a bizarre, scale-covered “walking pinecone” mammal which is now facing extinction, was featured as part of CNN's “Change the List” project, according to the CNN press release dated April 11.

The feature has aroused CNN readers’ compassion, who then donated the sum to fund the public service announcement (PSA) to help raise awareness of the pangolin’s plight.

The PSA, which was recently initiated by the Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV), Vietnam’s first non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of wildlife, will air in Vietnam later this year or early next.

“The Vietnamese PSA will probably focus on curbing demand for pangolin scales,” CNN quoted Doug Hendrie, advisor to the Education for Nature-Vietnam's wildlife crime and investigation unit, as saying.

“Any of the CNN reader donations not used to create the PSA will be used to boost the group's efforts to break up the pangolin trade and expose the restaurants and medicine shops that are illegally selling pangolin products,” Hendrie added.

Pangolins are thought to be the most trafficked mammal in the world. They are heavily trafficked for their scales, which are used in traditional medicine, and for their meat – a delicacy in Vietnam and China.

ENV has produced and commissioned a number of public service announcements aimed at curbing local demand for wildlife. However, it has yet to produce one for the pangolin.

Established in 2000 as the country’s first non-governmental organization devoted to nature conservation and environmental protection, the Education for Nature-Vietnam aims to foster greater understanding among the Vietnamese public about the need to protect nature and wildlife.

It is also intended to influence public attitudes and urge Vietnamese people to live in harmony with the natural world.

The NGO also works closely with government partners to strengthen wildlife protection policies and is directly in support of enforcement efforts in conserving endangered species.

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