Bizarre sight on a midnight stroll
Print Edition
A giant salamander was spotted wandering along a street in the Minhang District early this month. The unexpected pedestrian was caught, with some trouble, and sent to the Shanghai Zoo.
The 70-centimeter-long, lizard-like creature was found at the gate of the Forest Manor villa and apartment block after a security guard heard a strange baby-like cry around midnight, according to Huacao police.
“When I reached the scene, I found what looked like a giant salamander,” said one of the officers, surnamed Liu. “We tried to lure it into a cardboard box, but it was panicked by our attempts.”
It took Liu and the security guards about half an hour to finally push the frightened salamander into the box using a tree branch.
“We fed it some raw meat and sprayed it with water so it wouldn’t dry out,” said Liu.
Zoo officials confirmed that the animal is a Chinese giant salamander — an endangered species protected under law. No one seems to know how it came to be in Minhang, much going walk-about.
The Chinese giant Salamander, the largest salamander and amphibian in the world, normally lives in mountain streams in the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. Their numbers have dwindled because of illegal poaching. The creature is considered a delicacy and was used in traditional Chinese medicine.
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