The baby pangolin rescued from animal traffickers is getting stronger each day and is making hopeful progress, this is the happy update…
Menina, the baby pangolin saved from the animal trafficking trade and left critically ill, fighting for her life, is growing stronger after three days of intensive treatment.
She was found hidden in a box starving to death. The Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital took her in immediately and started treating her. The vet treats indigenous wildlife free of charge, relying solely on the support of the community. In this case, the community has rallied behind the baby pangolin and donations have been pouring in to help pay for her treatment.
Dr Carter and Sr Serfontein from the Fourways Vet Hospital also offered their expertise towards saving this very important life. They inserted the first ever gastric peg tube into her stomach. This assists in feeding her, which is one of the main reasons she is getting stronger.
“Over the past three days since the placement of a feeding tube (gastric peg tube), we have been monitoring Menina carefully. We are now able to feed her smaller meals regularly, which she seems to be responding well to. She appears to be getting stronger each day and she is beginning to show interest in ants! Once she gets stronger, she will be able to manage to forage for food and rely less on tube feeding.
Her prognosis is still guarded but we are cautiously optimistic that she will keep improving and doing all that we can to try ensure this.
We’ve been overwhelmed with the interest and response toward the rescue efforts for this little pangolin! This elusive species needs all the assistance it can get as they are being poached out of existence.”
We were happy to see this update and will keep you posted in a few weeks time about her condition. For now, we hope she rests well and eats all the ants. We are rooting for you Menina. If you would like to get involved, you can find more information here.
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