The Spotted Wood Owl (Strix seloputo) found in Narra town, Palawan. Photo courtesy of Margie Castulo
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY –– Another Spotted Wood Owl (Strix seloputo) was turned over to the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD), marking the second of its species to be surrendered to the environmental authorities this week.
Margie Castulo, a resident of Barangay Princess Urduja in Narra town, Palawan, who found the endangered owl, said in a phone interview with the Inquirer on Wednesday morning that no apparent injury was found on the wild bird but it was “on a weak state.”
“We found it at the back of the rice mill. It was my first time seeing it in person and I know it is endangered [owl] so it has to be turned over,” Castulo said in Filipino.
The responders from the Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit of PCSD picked up the owl on Tuesday afternoon and transported it to the Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center in Barangay Irawan, Puerto Princesa City so it can be “nurtured back to health.”
The owl is 40 centimeters long from beak to tail, with a wingspan of 90 centimeters, and weighed about 1.3 kilograms.
It is categorized as an “endangered species” under PCSD Resolution No. 15-521. It is also protected under the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act.
On July 4, Mylene Ledesma, an alumna of Western Philippine University and a resident of Barangay Ramon Magsaysay in Aborlan town, also surrendered to the PCSD staff a wounded Spotted Wood Owl that “seemed weak and was not able to fly nor move away from its position.”
The Spotted Wood Owl (Strix seloputo) found in Narra town, Palawan. Photo courtesy of Margie Castulo