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By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
(reproduced with permission from inq7.net)
Date: August 16, 2004
Page A23
| PROTECTION
starts with education.
Streamers now fly near Villa Encarnacion in Barangay
Malanday, Valenzuela City, warning residents not to
harm black-crowned night herons thriving nearby.
The signs were put up by barangay officials and
by local politicians.
One poster, citing the Wildlife Act of the Philippines,
warns residents they could be fined up to P20,000 and
imprisoned up to six years should they harm the birds.
Ordinance
proposed
Two city councilors are proposing an ordinance to protect
the herons and other migratory birds in several areas
in the city, but it will take a month before the proposal
is approved. |
|
. |
Under
the proposal, persons who would be caught catching or
harming the birds would have to pay up to P5,000 in
fines and plant 10 trees.
Village president Lorenzo Bogayan told the Inquirer
they had been looking after the herons near their houses
since they first saw the birds in 2000.
No longer helpless
But then they did not have the power to hold accountable
those who caught or killed the birds. |
Now,
the villagers are happy that people are learning to appreciate
the herons through the media and through government attention,
Bogayan said.
The
rescue on Tuesday of a wounded heron brought attention to
the plight of hundreds of herons and other migratory birds
which have been thriving in parts of the city. The rescued
heron, named Olan, is under treatment. |
