Wild birds rescued in Bulacan

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — Close to 200 wild birds were rescued by personnel of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Bulacan recently.

The birds were caught by hunters from the Candaba swamp in Pampanga, according to Paquito Moreno Jr., executive director of DENR-Central Luzon.

The 32,000-hectare Candaba swamp is one of the most important wetlands in the region as it serves as a refuge to an average of 7,000 migratory birds yearly.

The birds – which escape the winter in China, Japan, New Zealand and Siberia – feed and breed at the Candaba swamp from October to March.

Moreno said a team from the community environment and natural resources office spotted a man selling 129 common moorhen or uwis and 60 buff-barred rail or tikling at a local market in BarangayPagala, Baliuag.

The uwis is not included in the red list of threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but it is considered endangered in some parts of Guam, Hawaii and the Northern Mariana Islands, Moreno said.

A study showed that tiklings are abundant in the Philippines and Indonesia.

“The suspect fled upon seeing the environment team, which found out that the birds are sold for P100 for every three-piece bundle,” Moreno said.

Collecting, hunting, possession and trade of wildlife including their by-products and derivatives are prohibited under the law.