KUNMING - A pangolin was set free back to the wild in a nature reserve after being rescued in Southwest China's Yunnan province, local authorities said.

Police in Mengla county in Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture rushed to the rescue after receiving a report on May 21 that a pangolin was found in a refrigerator at Guanlei Port, according to the public security bureau of natural resources in the prefecture.

The pangolin was found when workers were moving some logs in the refrigerator.

A physical check showed that the pangolin measures about 55 cm long and weighs 3.8 kg. It did not sustain any injuries.

It was identified as a Malayan pangolin which is under second-class state protection in China and is listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

The China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation dispatched personnel to the county to send food to the pangolin and install a field tracking monitor on it.