Bye zoo, hello aviary

Compania Maritima Building in Cebu City. JUNJIE MENDOZA/CEBU DAILY NEWS

For the past nine years, Roger (not his real name) has been taking care of wild animals at the zoo in Cebu City, so it was not surprising that he continued his work even after its mayor, Tomas Osmeña, refused to renew his appointment as a casual employee.

Roger is now driving a motorcycle-for-hire, locally known as “habal habal,” after Osmeña terminated his job at the Cebu Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Office (CWRCPO) in Barangay Kalunasan since 2007. Still, he has kept on dropping by the zoo, a few meters from his house, to feed the snakes, birds, crocodiles and other animals.

“I’m a trained wildlife officer,” he said. “I cannot just leave the animals here. We have been together for several years. I am the one feeding them.”

Roger is among 25 casual employees of the CWRCPO whose appointments were not renewed by City Hall in July. The mayor instead assigned three officials to the zoo despite their lack of experience working with wildlife.

Working with wildlife

Alice Utlang, city veterinarian, was designated caretaker, while Dr. Pilar Romero, former city veterinarian and head of the city’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF), is her assistant. Lucia Mahusay, former deputy head of the city’s Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS), was also assigned to the facility.

Although a veterinarian and animal lover, Romero acknowledged that her previous job was entirely different from her current stint at the wildlife center. “We are having difficulty,” she said. “We don’t know how to get close to the crocodiles. This is the reason we have asked the (previous) caretaker to help us out.”

Cebu City, dubbed the “Queen City of the South,” does not have many parks and playgrounds. The zoo is but one of the few places where parents can bring their children aside from the malls.

The wildlife center sits on a seven-hectare land, but the animals are housed in only one hectare. Based on its latest inventory, it has 117 species of birds, chicken and turkey; one Philippine brown deer; four civet cats; 14 saltwater crocodiles; five alligators; 30 turtles; five hammerhead sharks; six pythons, six goats, one sheep, 34 rabbits, one monitor lizard, some monkeys and several ornamental fishes.

An entrance fee of P25 is collected for adults and P10 for children.

Last year, the zoo caught attention when it introduced “snake massage,” courtesy of four full grown Burmese pythons that slither on top of guests lying on bamboo beds. The service was stopped in September after Fr. Giovanni Romarate, who introduced the zoo activity, took three of the pythons with him after his contract was terminated.

The pythons also had to go with Romarate because they responded only to his commands. According to Romero, the priest continues to regularly visit the facility to check on the animals.

Land swap deal

Osmeña is not interested in keeping the zoo open. He wants to close it down since the property will be swapped for parcels of land owned by the provincial government in 11 villages in Cebu City, which are now occupied by at least 5,000 families.

Provincial Ordinance No. 93-1 allows the families to settle on the land, build houses and pay monthly amortization. Most of them have defaulted on the monthly payments, and the land swap deal would keep them from being moved elsewhere.

Most of the wildlife will be donated to the zoo in the municipality of Amlan in Negros Oriental province. The city will keep the birds at Compania Maritima Building, across City Hall, which will be converted into an aviary.

“I think it would be more attractive to Cebuanos,” the mayor had said. “It is a nice structure. You just put a net over it and you have all the birds inside. So you go and see the birds. I think a lot of people would like to see that compared to what it is now.”

Osmeña plans to take back a Philippine cockatoo, which he donated to the zoo several years ago.

THIS MONKEY will not find a home in a proposed aviary that will be housed in the Compania Maritima Building in Cebu City when plans to shut down the city zoo push through. TONEE DESPOJO/CEBU DAILY NEWS

 Zoo funds

While waiting for the closure of the zoo, Romero attends to the animals. She has appealed to the city to appropriate funds for the facility, saying she is using her own money to buy 200 bananas to feed the birds and monkeys.

Stock of meat for carnivorous animals and other food are being depleted.

Romero is worried about the physical and mental health of the animals. “Yes, they are still fed,” she said, “but they are lonely. You can really see it.”

She cited one instance when she tried to feed the caged birds. “They hesitated and only pecked at some of the food,” she said.

The birds’ mood changed when Roger came to feed them. “They really swarmed around him. You can see they were happy,” Romero said.