CULASI, Antique – Ten wildlife hunters in Brgy. Flores, this town, recently received financial aid from the Philippine Endemic Species Conservation Project (PESCP), a project of Frankfurt Zoological Society, founded by Prof. Dr. Eberhard Curio, based in Pandan, Antique.
Alex Alabado, Richard Lestino, both Wildlife Educators and Henry Dungganon, Plant Agriculturist of the PESCP turned-over the dummy check worth P24,000 to Brgy. Captain Henry A. Lomugdang.
The fund will be provided to wildlife hunters to start their economic livelihood in exchange of their non-hunting activities in the hinterlands of Brgy. Flores.
Earlier, Thomas Kuenzel, PESCP Manager, Environment program coordinator, and Brgy. Captain Henry Lomugdang of said barangay inked a Memorandum of Agreement for the provision of Alternative Livelihood Support Project Fund to wildlife hunters.
Mr. Alabado told News Express-Antique Bureau that the fund is to establish a cattle breeding project for the 10 identified hunters. The barangay council is the project implementor and cooperator. It shall undertake environmental conservation activities as they agreed.
“The barangay council of Flores will formulate and implement appropriate policies or ordinance requiring all community members to refrain from illegal hunting, illegal slash and burning farming, timber poaching and other environmental destructive practices,” said Mr. Alabado.
To ensure that their activities are given priority, Mr. Lestino said that "the project implementor will create a three-members Environment Conservation Committee and to formulate an activity plan to take charge of all related plans and activities towards biodiversity conservation. It shall also undertake activities to lobby necessary ordinance measures to reinforce any conservation initiatives in the barangay.”
It was learned that Brgy. Flores has already come-up with a conservation plan to put a stop to the hunting activities of wildlife in their barangay specifically aiming on tirik [tariktik hornbill, editor's note], dulungan, usa [spotted deer, Editor's note], wild pig (baboy talunon), and other endangered species.
Likewise the beneficiaries will maintain the watershed area with no logging activities, stop burning of cogonal area and illegal fishing in the streams and rivers.
It was learned that one of the works of the PESCP  in relation to conservation and rehabilitation of biodiversity  is to conserve  the highly endangered Writhed-billed Hornbill (Aceros waldeni; local names: dulungan, kalaw), a species important as a seed-disperser. This is also the primary aim of the Frankfurt Zoological Society. Success: Forest and nesthole monitoring allowed to reduce the number of poached hornbill nests (brood and sometimes also females killed) from 75% earlier to 5% this year in the Northwest Panay Peninsula
Meanwhile, Rey Elio, PESCP community organizer in adult education, said that community-based work, adult and school conservation education projects, natural resource management and development, support or providing of small-scale livelihood projects which make local people independent of over-exploitation of natural resources. Livelihood projects include a contractual obligation by people’s organizations to commit to a conservation activity.

MACHINE FOR ENDANGERED WILD-LIFE. Prof. Eberhard Curio, head of the Philippine Endemic Species Conservation Project (PESCP) turned-over a hi-tech blood analysis machine to Dr. Enrique Sanchez, consultant vet of the PESCP, for the chemical analysis of blood of endangered wildlife in his laboratory in Mag-aba, Pandan, Antique

PESCP consultant receives dialysis machine
 

ELY SUYOM November 27 - 30, 2003 SAN JOSE, Antique – Dr. Enrique Sanchez, DVM and consultant of the Philippine Endemic Species Conservation Project (PESCP), recently received from Prof. Dr. Eberhard Curio, head of  PESCP, a hi-tech machine (IDEXX) for the chemical analysis of blood of endangered wildlife in his laboratory, located at Brgy. Magaba, Pandan, Antique.     The new gadget is the world's most efficient machine, and likely the only one in the country, said Prof Curio.     The PESCP, a German funded conservation and research project operating in Northwestern Panay Peninsula since 1996, is saving endangered wildlife species in a community-based approach.     "In the process, wildlife species admitted to the rescue facilities of the PESCP, are rehabilitated and later on released back into the wild areas. Pre-release treatment

involves the professional health check conducted by Dr. Sanchez," said Prof. Curio.     It can be recalled that PESCP in a Memorandum of Agreement signed with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the rehabilitation and release of wildlife, they are authorized to receive and maintain confiscated, donated, and rescued wildlife for rehabilitation and release back into their former habitats.     Rey Elio, Deputy Manager of PESCP, reported that they are presently maintaining 15 hornbills at two locations, as well as 5 raptors near their staff house at the coast of Brgy. Bulanao, Libertad, and in Sto. Rosario, Pandan.     The project is working towards organizing a comprehensive rescue / rehabilitation / release facility in Pandan, Antique, to accommodate the growing problem of captive wildlife in the region, and to establish a much-needed model for replication elsewhere in the

Philippines. For release back into the wild of our raptors, a falconer was recently attracted into the roster of PESCP, to cope with the intricacies of rendering them skilled hunters upon release.     Dr. Enrique Sanchez, had been dispatched to Cologne, Germany for additional training in avian medicine.     Likewise, Filipino staff were trained to tend and care for rehabilitated wildlife in three facilities namely in Mag-aba Wildlife Clinic, Pandan, Bulanao Rescue Facility in Brgy. Bulanao. Libertad, both in Antique, and the Sibaliw Rehabilitation Facility in Brgy. Tag-osip, Buruanga, Aldan.     After proper health checks, the birds are trained and conditioned for release. In the process, the animals are acquainted with their natural diet to enable them to survive when released back to the wild.