With the current state of our world – a raging pandemic, forest fires, illegal logging, illegal tree cutting, and illegal wildlife trade – the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region 6 (DENR-6) strictly enforces Republic Act No. 9147, also known as the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act.
Wildlife, as a component of various ecosystems, maintains the balance in nature’s food web and ecosystem chain processes.
As a result, DENR field offices frequently conduct releases of wildlife back into their natural habitat. One of them is from the Boracay Community ENR Office, which recently released a juvenile Olive ridley sea turtle on the sandy shores of Puka Beach in Boracay Island. The marine turtle was recorded as the first incident of turtle species to nest and release in the area since the Hawksbill sea turtle and Green sea turtle recorded in the past years.
Since the beginning of 2021, the Provincial ENR Office of Iloilo has also recorded four turnovers and conducted wildlife releases of Reticulated python (Python reticulatus), Philippine serpent eagle (Spilornisholospilus), and one Eastern grass owl (Tyto longimembris).
juvenile Olive Ridley turtle released in Boracay Island. 
Rescued Reticulated python in Iloilo
Those wildlife rescues and releases showed that people are becoming more aware of their importance and the role they play in balancing our ecosystems.
But not all are good news. There was one White-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) rescued in Cadiz City but died a few days after. The cause of death was attributed to stress since the bird was trying to find a safer place to hide. The staff of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office in Cadiz learned that some people tried to shoot the bird.
“Hearing the numbers of wildlife rescues and releases in the region is one of the many reasons why the DENR is doing its best to protect them. This is proof that there are still people who wanted to preserve our natural resources, and we commend them. We, however, wanted to echo the call to those who may be unaware, to please do not shoot the birds or other animals since all of them play vital roles in our ecosystem,” said DENR-6 regional director Livino Duran.
RA 9147 is an act providing for the conservation and protection of wildlife resources and their habitats, appropriating funds therefor, and for other purposes.(DENR-6)
