LAKKI MARWAT - The rescue team of wildlife department released a pangolin in its natural habitat after taking it into safe custody from a house in Azeem Kila on Saturday.

A local elder Malik Sohrab Khan Wazir informed the wildlife department officials about the presence of a giant pangolin in his house at Azeem Kila village near Bannu, said DFO Khan Malook Khan.

The elder requested to send wildlife officials to his house to protect the animal before inmates of the house or villagers could harm it, he maintained.

The divisional forest officer said that a rescue team was sent to the area which took the animal into safe custody and shifted it to the wildlife park located near Kurrum Bridge in Lakki Marwat district.

He said the pangolin was 4 feet long and its weight was 12kg.

The animal is among the endangered species and it has been protected under the law, he added. He said that the animal was released in natural habitat in Wildlife Park near Kurrum River in the presence of area people.