FREE AGAIN Personnel of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in Baliwag, Bulacan, release migratory birds that they recovered from poachers in Candaba Swamp last week. —PHOTO COURTESY OF DENR
BALIWAG, Bulacan, Philippines — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has deployed a monitoring team and tapped local governments in the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga to prevent the hunting of migratory birds in Candaba Swamp, an official said on Wednesday.
Paquito Moreno Jr., the DENR regional executive director in Central Luzon, said the move was in response to an incident on Nov. 3 when 129 common moorhen, or “uwis” (Gallinula chloropus), and 60 barred rail locally known as “tikling” (Gallirallus torquatus) were found being sold at a market in Barangay Pagala.
Moreno said the birds were caught in Candaba Swamp, a known bird sanctuary in this town, by a wildlife trader who eluded arrest when accosted by personnel of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) in this town.
Vigilance
In a statement on Tuesday, Moreno said the suspect tried to sell a bundle of three birds for P100, adding that these were being supplied to restaurants that serve exotic food.
The birds, he said, are considered endangered in Guam, Hawaii and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Republic Act No. 9147, or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act of 2001, prohibits the collection, possession, hunt and trade of wildlife, including their byproducts and derivatives.
“We are appealing to the public to be vigilant against illegal wildlife trading and online selling to protect wildlife populations and sustain ecological balance,” Moreno said.
Cenro personnel immediately released the birds in Candaba Swamp and in the ricefields of Baliwag.
Don Guevara, information officer of the DENR in the region, said police were conducting a follow-up operation to identify and locate other hunters and illegal wildlife traders in the area.
“While we want people to find a source of livelihood, particularly during this time of the pandemic, we cannot allow these migratory and endangered birds to be sacrificed,” Guevarra told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
The DENR considers the 32,000-hectare Candaba Swamp as a key biodiversity area in the country as it serves as an important staging and wintering area for wild ducks and other threatened waterbirds.
It supports an average of 7,000 migratory birds coming mostly from as far as Siberia, Japan, China and New Zealand annually to seek wintering refuge, feeding and breeding area from October to March.
Last month, four suspected wildlife poachers were arrested for hunting 6,000 wrinkle-lipped bats (Chaerephon plicatus) worth over P90,000 in the protected area of Biak-na-Bato National Park in San Miguel town, also in Bulacan.