Saving the planet’s most trafficked animal one at a time

Nada gets exclusive access to a veterinary hospital in South Africa where the world’s leading pangolin expert is nursing them back to health in a secret location

It is the exotic creature you'd probably never heard of until 2020’s pandemic led to lockdowns across the world.

The pangolin, a scaly mammal that looks like an anteater, is believed to be a factor in the leap of the coronavirus from animals to humans at a market in Wuhan, China.

This notoriety could actually now turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Every five minutes a pangolin - now the world’s most trafficked animal - is poached.

There are so few of them left this mammal, the only one to have scales - is set to completely disappear.

Between 2004 and 2014, more than a million pangolins were illegally traded. Despite a 2017 ban, this type of wildlife poaching is on the rise.