Is there such a thing as a weeping pangolin?

TOUCHING SIGHT: The mother pangolin and offspring before being placed in a cage.



SIBU: Residents at Punai Road were shocked when they saw a mother anteater weeping after it and its baby were caught last week.

The incident occurred before Chap Goh Meh when the mother and offspring were crossing the road.

A group of people were chatting at a roadside shed when they saw the anteaters (pangolin).

The baby was clinging to its mother’s tail as they moved slowly across the road.

“Would a mother anteater weep when it fears for the safety of her offspring?” asked a resident when he saw the reptile’s teary eyes.

According to witnesses, one of the residents was very excited upon seeing the animals.

“He quickly jumped on them and put them in a wire cage.”

He said the animals attracted quite a crowd.

“Three car passengers who interrupted their journey were the first to notice the tears of the mother pangolin.”

Touched by the unusual happening, several children pleaded with the excited catcher to release the animals.

The man, however, seemed to have a heart of stone.

It was only when a few persons suggested giving him money that the man agreed to let the animals go.

The man offered them for RM100.

A woman reporter who was called to the place confirmed that she saw the mother’s teary eyes when she struggled inside the cage.

“The baby pangolin was naturally fearful, and it clung tightly to the tail of its mother,” she said.

She accepted the catcher’s offer, paid him and took the animals away.

“I passed them to snake-catcher Lai Lee Siew for I know he always releases wild animals after catching them in residential areas,” she said.

She actually followed Lai into a jungle the next day to release the pangolins, but declined to give the exact location for fear that poachers might take advantage of the situation.

She recalled that the mother pangolin held tightly to the cage when Lai tried to release her while her offspring won’t let go her tail.

She said when Lai failed to loosen the mother’s grip his niece, who followed them into the jungle, took the baby and put it outside the cage.

“It was only then that the mother went out of the cage and together they made their way into the bush.”

Lai’s niece said it was her first time that she went into a jungle to do such a thing.

“I was touched by what I saw,” she said, adding that when the animals were free, she felt joy in her heart.

“I have learnt from being kind to the animals. They were born free. Humans must ensure that they are free to roam in the forest. They are not meant for the cooking pot.”

To the natives, pangolins are called ‘tenggiling’.

The scaly reptile has a prehensile tail and no teeth.

The offspring travels by sitting on the base of the mother’s tail.

The animal is usually nocturnal, sleeping during the day in underground burrows. Its food consists exclusively of ants and termites.

Pangolins are found in the lowlands and on hills.