When a scaly anteater is captivated, its body will always curl tightly into a ball due to the instinct of terror or self-defence. Generally, the procedure of a trade is like this: as buyers pick up one, a black vendor will straighten it up with force, dissect it, and discard its internal organs. Then the vendor cleans it up and holds it with clamps onto a fire pot to grill until the scales are all detached from its body.
The captures were abundant that day. There were plenty of huddled scaly anteaters of various sizes displayed within a latticed cage. The cadres then picked several large ones and claimed that a live killing must be seen.
A Young black butcher picked the biggest one, trying to straighten it up with adroit move. Despite all his efforts, he just couldn't make the huddled body open again. The surprised faces of the his clients made that him feel embarrassed, so he slamed that poor little thing to the ground again and again; in the meantime, he explained that scaly anteaters would open up their huddled body when they inflicted pains on them. But the more slams given, the tighter its body curled, even its frightened tiny eyes totally shut down, and its pointed mouth started to bleed. We couldn't stand the sight any more, so we waved at him to stop. But that black young man still didn't want to quit, so directly he clamped it onto the fire pot to grill. However, by the time its scales all dropped and the smell of burnt were all over, that scaly anteater had still maintained its curled shape. Now that black young man was at his wits' end, so he shook his head and said that there must be something wrong to that animal and it must be inedible. Then he dropped it on the sandy ground behind him and continued to kill another two in a row, which was a much easier job and took him no more than five minutes.
When paying that young man, we unexpectedly found the scaly anteater that drown on the ground slowly straightened its body and narrowed its eyes. After throbs, its body stiffened, completely motionless. As its body further stretched, we were dumbfounded by the scene that there was a fresh, bright, rat-sized baby scaly anteater wriggled on its flat belly, with umbilical cords still connected. The baby opened and shut its mouth, seemingly calling its mother silently. Such a scene made everybody agape. Instantly, I felt that my blood swelled, my hairs erected and my eyes watered. That mother scaly anteater weighed no more than five kilos, still she used her flesh and blood, enduring heavy slams and scalding grilling, to protect her baby unhurt till she died. Her amazing will to power had gone far beyond the limit of a life.
尊重每一個生命!不要再吃野生動物!沒有買賣就沒有殺戮!
Please pay respect to every single life! Stop eating wild animals! No tradings, no killings!