THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has placed an injured Falcon Dumagat under rehabilitation at the Regional Wildlife Rescue Center (RWRC) in Baclay village, Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur.
Rosevirico Tan, DENR regional information officer, said Tuesday, March 8, that the Falcon Dumagat was retrieved by the personnel of Community Environment and Natural Resources office (Cenro)-Guipos in Tigbao, Zamboanga del Sur on March 3 while the agency was celebrating the World Wildlife Day.
Tan said that Cenro-Guipos in Zamboanga del Sur sent a retrieval team to Tigbao after William Arnejo, a farmer who found the injured Falcon, posted a message on Facebook seeking help of the DENR.
Arnejo told the Cenro-Guipos team that he found the bird with two injuries in the chest believed to be inflicted by airgun while he was tending his farm on February 24.
"Currently, the retrieved Falcon is under treatment by veterinarians of the RWRC. Once deemed fully recovered and healthy, it will be released back to the wild," Tan said.
He said the retrieval was timely as this year's World Wildlife Day celebration on March 3 was anchored on the theme "Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration."
The celebration also saw the release of a pair of tarsiers in Delucot village, Godod, Zamboanga del Norte, and Brahminy Kite and Rufous Night Heron at the bird sanctuary of the Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology in this city.
"We urge the public to refrain from causing any harm or danger to any of our wildlife species for they keep our ecosystem balanced," Tan said. (SunStar Zambonga)