Photo: Jeffrey Postott | Pixabay
When Thai Van Nguyen was a young child, he witnessed a mother and baby pangolin being caught and killed by neighbors in his village. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, more than 895,000 pangolins were trafficked between 2000 and 2019, making them the world's most trafficked animal. In response to this, Nguyen founded Save Vietnam's Wildlife, an organization dedicated to saving threatened species. Since its founding in 2014, the organization has rescued more than 1,500 pangolins. Nguyen also created Vietnam's first anti-poaching unit, which works to dismantle illegal camps and remove wildlife traps. The organization started an education center that provides courses to the public to raise awareness on wildlife. They have also started Vietnam's first pangolin rehabilitation center, releasing more than 500 back into the wild. They are resolved to save more. "They exist on the Earth to balance the ecosystem," Nguyen shares. "We need to live together with them."
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