QC suburb denies DENR access to ostriches who breached lockdown

MANILA, Philippines — A team from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was denied access to the Quezon City subdivision where two ostriches ran loose days ago, an official of the department said.

DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda, in a message to reporters, said that on the day the ostriches were spotted taking a stroll in Mapayapa Village III in Diliman, the DENR-NCR immediately deployed a technical team, accompanied by experts from the Biodiversity Management Bureau Veterinary Medicine, to the area to conduct an inspection and to check whether the owners of the wild birds have secured the necessary permits.

“Apparently, they were denied access to the village/subdivision by the guards… As of this moment, the team is again in the area to coordinate with the subdivision’s [home owners association] and [local government unit] to investigate and get details on the matter,” he said.

Antiporda said that the department will resort to legal action if the subdivision will continue to bar the team from conducting its inspection.

“Likewise, they will be conducting the regular inspection monitoring of wildlife permittees in the village.”

“In case we will be denied access, then we will be constrained to explore legal action and to deal with the matter accordingly,” he added.

As of writing, it was not determined however, if the team was allowed to enter inside the village.

The two ostriches running loose inside the subdivision became a social media spectacle, with some speculating that the wild animals could have been trying to make a quarantine breach. They were eventually caught by a security guard and several construction workers in the area, apparently after the wild birds failed to produce a quarantine pass.

After the incident, the Philippine Animal Welfare Society, meanwhile, then urged the DENR to enforce tighter measures in giving permits to carers of wild animals.

EDV