Bhubaneswar: A pangolin was rescued Tuesday from a village in Baragarh district. One person was arrested on charges of wildlife trafficking, police said.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of special task force personnel with the help of forest department officials conducted search operations in areas along the Baragarh-Bheden road and recovered the animal from the person’s possession, a senior officer informed.
The pangolin was allegedly being trafficked and the person, a resident of Negipalli village in Bargarh district, was handed over to the forest department for legal action, the officer said.
Pangolins are nocturnal, termite-eating mammals found in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. They are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, which put them in the same bracket as tigers, lions, rhinos and several other species.
The body of a pangolin is covered with overlapping scales made of keratin, the same protein that forms human hair and nails, and rhino horn.
Since 2020, the STF has seized at least 22 leopard skins, 12 elephant tusks and nine pangolins, and arrested 52 wildlife criminals in Odisha, police said.