DENR says wildlife hunters are off-limits to RP

PRESS RELEASE                                                            FOR REFERENCE
March 7, 2010                                                                  ALFREDO S. ARAYA
                                                                                         Chief, Regional Public Affairs Office
                                                                                         Telefax: 4820857
                                                                                         Email: araya_rpao5denr@yahoo.com

DENR says wildlife hunters are off-limits to RP

All forms of wildlife hunting are prohibited in the Philippines.

This, according to Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Horacio Ramos in an advisory issued recently, sternly warning the public that the "DENR does not allow hunting of wildlife in any place in the country."

Ramos's move to reiterate the entire Philippines being "off limits" to wildlife hunters came following reports that a US-based website www.adventures411.com offers a jungle safari on Mindoro island to kill "some native species you simply cannot hunt anywhere else in the world today."

In its 14-day hunting package, the website offers a "guaranteed 100 ercent of killing major trophy animals" that includes some of the Philippines' endangered animals like the Asian Sambar deer, Philippine mouse deer, saltwater crocodile, and the Philippine wart pig.

Hunting or unauthorized collection of endangered and vulnerable species (meaning their number is nearing extinction) is a criminal offense under Republic Act 9147, otherwise known as the Philippine Wildlife Conservation Act of 2001, and carries penalties of imprisonment from two to 12 years, including fines ranging from P30,000 to P1 million.

Ramos likewise cautioned foreigners that they may still be caught for breaking Philippine wildlife laws even even if they are on their native soil citing the reported conviction of a German national, named Gunther Wenzek, last January 14 on the strength of an American law that recognizes Philippine law on wildlife conservation and protection.

Wenzek was arrested in 2007 by US customs officials for violation of the Lacey Act and RA 9147 which strictly prohibits the harvesting and trading of Philippine corals.

The Lacey Act, on the other hand, prohibits possession, transport or trade of wildlife species that have been illegally collected, transported or sold in violation of wildlife laws existing in their countries of origin.

Wenzek was sentenced to serve three years on probation and pay a fine amounting to at least $35,000 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon for shipping into the Port of Portland, Oregon some 40 tons of corals belonging to the scientific order Scleractinia, genera Porites, Acropora, and Pocillopora, common to Philippine reefs.

The web-based hunting package cited the provinces of Palawan, Mindoro Oriental and Occidental, Romblon and Marinduque as the places where this "Philippine safari" as showcased in the www.adventures411.com were to be held, prompting Ramos to urge "anybody who has knowledge of these hunting groups" to get in touch with local DENR offices either via telephone at (02) 4050323, short message service at 0917-302-9257, or email at pawb_4b@yahoo.com/ph.

Ramos warned that local and foreign nationals alike are equally liable under the act even by mere publication of the activity, saying "any published or posted information in the internet or in any publication, inviting prospective tourists or individuals for action adventure in the Philippines by way of game hunting, must be treated with utmost caution as these activities may be illegal."