Pangolin poachers arrested in Zimbabwe

Police in Zimbabwe have arrested five pangolin poachers in two separate incidents, a conservation group said on Wednesday.

The officers also managed to rescue one injured female pangolin or scaly anteater on Sunday. She is now being cared for the Tikki Hywood Trust in Harare.

"She has multiple lacerations and infected sores on her body," the trust said in a statement on its Facebook page.

The pangolin is being treated with antibiotics and is recovering well. Scaly anteaters are said to be the most illegally traded mammal in the world.

In the first incident, detectives and state park rangers tracked down and arrested three poachers who were on Saturday rumoured to be selling a pangolin in Harare.

The body of a pangolin that had been dead for several days was recovered, wrapped in several plastic bags, the trust said.

Pangolin scales are highly sought after in traditional Chinese medicine.

Two more poachers were arrested in a separate swoop Sunday, when the female pangolin was recovered. The animal had spent three weeks in captivity, the trust said.

The poachers have all been denied bail and will appear in court soon.

Last October a pangolin from the eastern city of Mutare made headlines when she gave birth to a baby in a police station after she was rescued from poachers.

That baby, called Bambanani, was also cared for by the Tikki Hywood Trust.