DJ Yap Philippine Daily Inquirer 15 Dec 10;
Filed Under: Animals, Conservation, Smuggling, Air Transport, Environmental Issues
MANILA, Philippines—No more snakes on planes. No more turtles, geckos, parrots, mynah birds and bear cats, too.
Environment officials and airport authorities will clamp down on the smuggling of rare and endangered animals at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in line with a Southeast Asia-wide campaign against wildlife trafficking.
Officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) launched Tuesday the “Wildlife Trafficking Stops Here” campaign together with the Manila International Airport Authority and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN).
The advocacy program is part of an ASEAN-wide effort to combat wildlife trafficking through international airports in the region, starting with Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport in March 2009, then expanding to airports in Laos and Vietnam.
Wildlife trafficking
On Tuesday, the Philippines became the latest country to join the campaign, officials said.
“Thousands of wild animals and plants flow through hot spots, such as airports, every day,” said Manop Lauprasert, senior officer of the ASEAN-WEN Support Program at the launch of the campaign at the departure lobby of the NAIA Terminal 1.
From January until September, ASEAN-WEN reported that about 95 arrests had been made, 13,000 live animals had been rescued, and over 63,000 animal parts and derivatives had been recovered in the region.
All in all, that amounted to more than $10 million, Lauprasert said.
In the Philippines, he said an estimated 1,887 live animals—parrots, mynah birds, doves, turtles, geckos, leopard cats, bear cats, otters and snakes—had been rescued during that period.
Paying off
Philippine authorities had also intercepted more than P7.2 million worth of illegally obtained timber and an estimated $2 million worth of African elephant tusks.
Steven R. Galster, director of Freeland Foundation and chief-of-party of the ASEAN-WEN Support Program, said the wildlife protection and conservation efforts have been paying off, with 500 wildlife traffickers arrested and 100 charged and prosecuted since the campaign began.
The campaign targets the illicit trade on endangered and threatened species lists, although it also strongly discourages trade of any wild animal to be sold off as pets.
Under Republic Act No. 9147, no person is allowed to collect, possess or hunt wildlife, unless he meets specific conditions, such as having the financial and technical capability and facility to maintain wildlife. Indigenous people may collect wildlife for traditional purposes, but not for trade.
Exportation and importation of non-threatened wildlife species may be allowed under strict conditions, such as the recipient having the technical and financial capability to maintain them.
But Galster said so much still is needed to be done, considering the sheer volume of endangered species bought, sold and smuggled through the airports.
‘Don’t buy’
The campaign also has a message for the public: “Don’t buy” endangered wildlife.
The Philippines will assume chairmanship of ASEAN-WEN, taking over from Thailand, next year.
Ambassador Wilfrido Villacorta, the Philippines’ permanent representative to the ASEAN, said Southeast Asia and the Philippines stood much to lose if wildlife trafficking went unabated.
“The ASEAN region comprises only three percent of the Earth, but contains over 20 percent of all known plants, animals and marine species,” many of which are endemic, or not to be found elsewhere, he said.
The Philippines, for its small size, has the fifth highest number of endemic birds and mammals in the world, he said.
“Wildlife trafficking should indeed be a major concern of ASEAN and the Philippines as well,” he said.
