W/in rajah sikatuna nat’l park: Hunting of wildlife banned

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Region 7 office has implemented the “no hunting, collecting, killing, and harvesting of wildlife species” including their by-products and derivatives within the 10,452.60-hectare Rajah Sikatuna National Park in Bilar, Bohol.

The park that is now known as Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape (RSPL), covering 9,136 hectares of secondary-growth forests, has recorded a total of 195 faunal species, 25 species of bats, 13 species of non-flying mammals, 120 species of birds, 20 species of frogs, 10 species of snakes and seven species of wizards.

DENR-7 regional executive director Isabelo Montejo said: “Our wildlife species play a very important component in preserving the state of balance of an ecosystem and its presence to a certain habitat contributes to the overall integrity of the environment.”

Study and assessment revealed that a major portion of the park consisted of natural forest stand dominated by several dipterocarp species and several natural and scenic attributes that have good potentials for educational, scientific and recreational use.

At present, nearly 40 tamed long-tailed Philippine macaques are living inside the park, attracting a lot of local and foreign tourists.

Montejo said that by protecting and preserving the park would enable the wildlife species living there to increase its population.

The park also has a 1,000-square meter wildlife rescue center that serves as an acclimatization facility before the previously captive animal would be released to the wilds after six months or more or when its health condition permits.

The RSPL is formerly part of the Loboc Watershed Reforestation Project and was proclaimed as a national park by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 129 on July 10, 1987 through the recommendation of the then Bureau of Forest Development –Region 7. (FREEMAN)