Court now has jurisdiction over smuggled birds

A DEPARTMENT of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) official said Sunday that the agency no longer has jurisdiction over the exotic birds recovered from an Indonesia national in this city.

"We no longer have jurisdiction over the birds,” said Regional Technical Director of DENR-Davao Emmanuel Isip.

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Thus, he said if the Department of Agriculture still wants to have jurisdiction over the recovered exotic animals, it must ask for it from the court.

He said the birds, numbering to over 300, have been submitted as evidence against the accused.

The DENR and Regional Veterinary Quarantine Office of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) under the DA have been squabbling over the jurisdiction of the 300 smuggled exotic birds.

The birds are now housed at the Davao Crocodile Park in Ma-a, Davao City.

The BAI has been calling for the immediate disposition of the birds, which are suspect to be carrying strains of the avian flu.

“But if these birds have bird flu, they should have already died or some of our staff should have been sick by now already,” Isip said.

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the DENR recently raided a property in Mahayag Buhangin after receiving reports that smuggled wildlife were kept there.

In February, the DENR received a letter from the Officer-in-Charge of the BAI Davinio Catbagan, requesting for the turnover of the birds to the Regional Veterinary Quarantine Office.

Attached to the request is a letter from Senior State Solicitor Edgardo Sison, stating that the seized exotic birds are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the DA-RFU Veterinary Quarantine Service.

Avian flu, according to the World Health Organization, is a contagious disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs.

Avian influenza viruses are highly species-specific, but have, on rare occasions, crossed the species barrier to infect humans. (CPM)