How does a vet draw blood from a pangolin? Twelve families found out at the Animal Medical Center at Taipei Zoo on Sunday.
The center, which takes care of the medical needs of all the animals at the zoo, is usually closed to the public. However, 37 children and their parents were able to attend an educational workshop there yesterday, the first such event at the center.

The pangolin, however, was not in a cooperative mood.

"Look, hes curling up into a ball," said one child of the creature also known as a scaly anteater.

A quick trip to an anesthetic chamber relaxed the reluctant animal, and vets quickly gave it a vitamin shot and implanted a microchip under its shoulder. They also performed a blood test, drawing a sample from the underside of the pangolins tail.

Chang Chih-hua （張志華）, the chief veterinarian at the center, said there has long been keen public interest to see the facilities.

"We cant be fully open to the public because of the work we do here," Chang said. "But we instituted a workshop so that we can show kids some aspects of what we do," he said.

Three workshops scheduled for this month are fully booked, but Chang said more are on the way if the program proves to be a success.

"I hope we can encourage children to love animals more by learning more about them," Chang said.

A 10-year-old visitor surnamed Pan （潘） was not disappointed. "I made my mom take us," she said. "I learned so much."

Aside from the animals at the zoo, the center also takes care of wild animals rescued or spotted by the public until they are well enough to be released, like the pangolin featured in the workshop.

Chang said that the center has dealt with a wide variety of rescued beasts, from crested serpent eagles to baby squirrels. The most unusual case is probably the Formosan ferret-badger with a broken leg who was found wandering along Xinhai Road near National Taiwan University.