Rescued Pangolin's Grandpup Born Wild in South Africa

When South African authorities pulled a terrified pangolin from a car trunk in 2020, she was hours away from being sold on the black market. Today, that same pangolin named Bhuti is a grandmother thriving in the wild.

Bhuti was emaciated, dehydrated and terrified when rescuers brought her to a veterinary clinic. She spent a month recovering before wildlife rehabilitation specialists moved her to KwaZulu-Natal, a province where her species had vanished four decades ago.

The African Pangolin Working Group fitted Bhuti with tracking tags and watched her explore her new home before releasing her fully into the wild. Since then, she has given birth to multiple pups and in December 2025, one of her offspring had a baby of its own.

That grandpup represents a major milestone. Second-generation wild births prove reintroduction programs work, says Nicci Wright, co-chair of the African Pangolin Working Group.

Pangolins desperately need success stories like this. Between 2016 and 2024, traffickers killed an estimated 550,000 pangolins for their scales and meat, making them the most trafficked mammals on Earth.

Their scales, made of the same keratin as human fingernails, get ground into powder for traditional medicine despite having no proven medical value. Their gentle nature makes them easy targets for poachers since they simply curl into a ball when threatened.

All eight pangolin species now face extinction. Three Asian species are critically endangered, and two African species recently joined the endangered list as trafficking shifts to new hunting grounds.

The Ripple Effect

The African Pangolin Working Group has successfully reintroduced more than 50 rescued pangolins to natural habitats since 2014. Each release helps restore populations that trafficking decimated and rebuilds ecosystems where pangolins control insect populations.

In 2016, government officials from around the world voted almost unanimously to ban international commercial trade of all pangolin species through CITES. The victory protects pangolins at borders, though conservationists say stronger U.S. federal protections are still needed.

Bhuti's story shows that even the most trafficked animals can recover when given a chance, one rescued pangolin at a time.