Countdown still on for vanishing wildlife

By Armando A. Mortejo
“Conserving wildlife is an arduous task. This cannot be accomplished by one or two government agencies alone. The continued existence of our wildlife rests on the support and cooperation of our people.” — Dr. Delfin J. Ganapin, Jr., former environment undersecretary
Filipinos call it agila, tipule, mamboobook, garuda, and manaol. Despite its several names, Philippine eagle (scientific name: Pithecophaga jeffreyi) is “the king of birds,” thus the fitting name, Haring Ibon.
With a wing span of nearly seven feet and a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour, Philippine eagle can gracefully swoop down on an unsuspecting prey and carry it off without breaking flight.
Although Philippine eagle is the country’s bird icon, it is on the brink of extinction. In fact, the Convention for International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) has listed as an endangered species.
“By using the Philippine eagle as the focal point of conservation, we are, in the process, saving wildlife and their habitat,” pointed out Dennis Salvador, the executive director of the Philippine Eagle Center based in Malagos, Calinan District.
Aside from birds, wildlife also includes amphibians, reptiles, and mammals living naturally in the forests and grasslands. It also includes the untamed habitats of the sea, like the marine turtles and dugongs.
“We regret losing something when it is already gone,” so goes a familiar saying. If the usual disruptive trend to our wildlife species continues, the above maxim might well prove true for the diminishing legacy of the Philippines.
“The Philippines has tremendous wildlife resources,” wrote Jesus B. Alvarez Jr. in a 1981 position paper. “We have unique and beautiful birds which are in great demand, both here and abroad. We also have rare interesting mammals. Most outstanding are the tamaraw and the Philippine eagle which could be placed alongside the world’s finest species.”
The accounts of explorers and colonizers of the country revealed that as early as the 17th century, the country’s more than 7,100 islands teemed with wildlife. With the passing of time, the scenario has completely changed.
“A few decades ago, the wildlife of the Philippines was notable for its abundance; now, it is notable for its variety; if the present trend of destruction continues, Philippine wildlife will be notable for its absence,” commented Dr. Lee Talbot, who was once a member of the Southeast Asia Project on Wildlife Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
Noted Filipino wildlife expert Dioscoro Rabor echoed the same sentiment. “It is about time that we, Filipinos, stop making ourselves internationally blind to the real status of our wildlife resources,” he said. “We should face the fact that our country is no longer rich in forests and consequently, of wildlife which used to be a normal component of our forests.”
A species is considered extinct when it no longer found in the past 50 years. Endangered species are those that have been reduced in number to a critical level or whose habitats have been damaged, altered, or reduced.
Rare species have small world populations. Usually, they are restricted to very few habitats. At present, rare species are not considered endangered but at risk. Threatened, on the other hand, is a general term used to describe the animal or plant species which could be in the status of “endangered” and “insufficiently unknown.”
The CITES has listed almost 50 wildlife species in the country that are rare, threatened, or endangered. Among those that are included in the list are five marine turtles, two crocodile species, the Philippine eagle, tamaraw, and dugongs.
“Once these species are gone, they are gone forever, leaving behind an imbalance in ecology and beauty difficult to determine and restore,” observed a committed Filipino environmentalist.
The decimation of their natural habitat has been cited as the main culprit of the rapid disappearance of the country’s wildlife species. “At the rate our ecosystems are getting destroyed, many species may no longer be there when we need them,” deplored Samuel Peñafiel, former director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB).
PAWB is a line agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Today, it is called Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) and it is tasked to monitor, protect and conserve wildlife in the country.
Hunting has been blamed as a major culprit in the dwindling population of Philippine eagle. But the truth is, it is the destruction of their natural habitat — the tropical rainforest — that is the principal cause of their rapid disappearance.
The natural habitat of Philippine eagle consists mainly of old-growth forests from 100 meters to 1,000 meters above sea level. Unfortunately, these are the habitats that are also fast disappearing due to deforestation.
“Deforestation is terrible,” deplored Salvador. “The Philippine eagle has become a critically endangered species because forest destruction has made it lose its natural habitat.”
Here’s an explanation from Peñafiel on why deforestation threatened wildlife species: “The problem of forest destruction is very much related to wildlife protection, because most of the wildlife use the forests as their habitat, while water-based animals are in the wetlands.
“But there is also a link between forests and these areas because if we destroy the forest, we destroy the water storage capacity of the forests,” he added. “During dry months, the lakes also dry up, thus destroying the aquatic life.”
Another major cause of the disappearance is the high demand of wildlife species in both domestic and foreign markets. According to Dr. Theresa Mundita-Lim, BMB director, illegally collected and traded endemic and indigenous wildlife species “are (still) being sold at petshops and other stores in Cartimar, Pasay City, and Aranque, Manila City; San Jose del Monte Sunday Market in Bulacan, Hulo in Malabon, and Tarua Market in Cavite.”
In 2001, Republic Act 9147 — which criminalizes the collecting, hunting, possessing, trading and transporting wildlife — was enacted. But despite the law, crimes against wildlife remain rampant.
“Despite anti-animal trafficking laws, the number of wildlife confiscated from poachers in the Philippines shot up from 2010 to 2013 — most alarmingly in terms of the number of seized mammals, which exploded 1,600% over that period,” GMA News Online said in a recent report.