Tondo house of wildlife horrors

Over a hundred endangered animals, including Palawan mynas, parrots and crocodiles, were found dead when wildlife conservation officials recently raided a house in Tondo, Manila.

Only 14 pond turtles were recovered alive and the suspected wildlife traffickers remained at large, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said on Thursday.

On July 3, a team led by the DENR and the Philippine National Police, with the support of village officials, raided the Tondo residence on Tayuman Street following a tip that it was keeping “hundreds of wildlife species” to be sold to pet owners and collectors in Metro Manila.

The team was headed by DENR Undersecretary Ernesto Adobo, chief of the recently formed Philippine Operations Group on Ivory and Illegal Wildlife Trade.

An informant told authorities that wildlife species from Palawan province were seen being loaded on a motorboat coming from Cavite province to Manila, according to Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) Director Theresa Mundita Lim.

She said no one was in the house when the raid was carried out but authorities had established the identity of the alleged wildlife traffickers.

The officials were after a shipment that reportedly included 310 Palawan hill mynas, 96 blue-naped parrots, 2 Palawan bearcats, 2 leopard cats, and a Palawan otter.

But the raid yielded only 78 Palawan hill mynas (Gracula religiosa or “kiyaw”), an endangered endemic species; 12 blue-naped parrots (Tanygnathus lucionensis or “pikoy”), a vulnerable endemic species; five juvenile Indo-Pacific or saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus), an endangered nonendemic species; and 14 Philippine forest or pond turtles (Siebenrockiella leytensis).

“Unfortunately, only the 14 turtles were confiscated alive,” according to a PAWB report.

The mynas, parrots and crocodiles were killed, presumably to stop the animals from making noise, the report said.

“The other animals originally reported to be included in the shipment (bearcats, leopard cats and otter) were not in the house,” it added.

The PAWB is keeping the animal carcasses as evidence. The turtles, after being rehabilitated, will be returned to Palawan.

Under Republic Act No. 9147 or the Wildlife Act, the illegal trade of endangered species carries a penalty of up to P200,000 in fines and imprisonment of up two years, while the killing of endangered species is punishable with a P500,000 fine and a six-year prison term.