Task force vows to renew crackdown against Candaba Swamp bird hunters

BIRD hunters targeting migratory birds in one of the country’s largest wetlands in the Province of Pampanga are now the objects of a manhunt by wildlife law enforcers for blatantly defying the law against hunting wild animals. The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) of Pampanga has launched surveillance operations against a group of bird hunters who were recently spotted while conducting bird-hunting activities along the North Luzon Expressway in Apalit, Pampanga.

The latest report of bird-hunting activities came just weeks after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Ramsar Convention declared on February 2, 2021,World Wetlands Day, the Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetlands as a wetland of international importance.

The first in Pampanga and the entire Central Luzon Region, the Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetland became the 8th Ramsar Site in the Philippines.

Its designation as a wetland of international importance highlights the province’s commitment to protect and conserve its coastal and inland wetlands as a staging ground of endangered migratory birds and habitat to native bird species that thrive in the area.

“Pampanga Penro [Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer] Laudimir Salac has already sent a team to the area to conduct surveillance operation,” Don Guevarra, Regional Public Affairs Office chief of DENR Central Luzon told the Businessmirror in a telephone interview.

“It just happened that because of Covid-19, our team’s movement is limited,” he said.

The “hunt” for Pampanga’s bird hunters came in response to reports of illegal activities documented and posted on social media by bird enthusiasts recently.

Sought for reaction, Rogelio Demelletes Jr. of the DENR’S Philippine Operations Group on Ivory and Illegal Wildlife Trade, or Task Force POGI, said it is unfortunate that bird-hunting activities have again resumed in the area. Apparently, he said, the bird hunters are taking advantage of the restricted movement of wildlife law enforcers because of the pandemic.

“We know who they are. We can track them down. These hunters are not from Pampanga. Some of them are from nearby provinces congregating in the Candaba Swamp to show off their weapons and try it on these poor birds,” said Demelletes.

“Some of them need to show off to demonstrate the firepower of their upgraded rifles. The only way they can do it there is to hunt birds,” lamented Demelletes.