|
Conservationists Thursday slammed the "pathetic" finehanded to a Filipino farmer who shot and ate one of the world'srarest eagles, saying it could embolden other hunters. In the first case brought under the country's 2001 wildlife act,Bryan Balaon, 26, was fined 100,000 pesos ($2,300), PhilippineEagle Foundation president Dennis Salvador said. "We find the fine pathetic. He got off with a slap on thewrist," Salvador told AFP. The fine handed down by a court Wednesday could encourage those whohunt the eagle for sport or to collect it as a trophy, he said. "The victim is our national bird, our national heritage. Ifeel that we lost an opportunity here to send an important messageagainst poachers and other people who commit crimes againstnature," Salvador said. It was not the first time that specific bird had fallen into thewrong hands. In 2006, the government handed the creature to the foundation forrehabilitation after seizing it from a man who had shot it down andkept it as a caged pet with a shotgun pellet still lodged in itsskull, Salvador said. After rehabilitation the eagle was fitted with a radio transmitterand it was released back into the wild on Mount Kitanglad inBukidnon province in March 2008. But four months later the four-kilogram (8.8-pound) bird was shotdead, cooked and eaten. The foundation discovered the crime by tracking the transmitter,which was buried at the bottom of a ravine. The court ruled Balaon will be jailed if he cannot pay the fine.But the foundation, citing a copy of the court ruling, said nodeadline had been set for payment. Josefina de Leon, a senior official with the EnvironmentDepartment's Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, told AFP the finewas the lowest punishment prescribed by the country's 2001 wildlifeact. The maximum punishment for poaching protected species is a 12-yearprison term plus a fine of one million pesos. The Philippine eagle, or Pithecophaga jefferyi, found only in thecountry's vanishing forests, is the world's largest eagle and is"critically endangered" with just 90-250 pairs left inthe wild according to International Union for the Conservation ofNature. The raptor grows to 102 centimeters (3.35 feet) long and has adistinctive, shaggy and cream-colored crest. Court officials in Malaybalay City, where the hearing took place,and Balaon's lawyer could not be reached for comment. –Agence France Presse. I am an expert from rfid-smart-cards.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Rfid Business Cards Manufacturer , China Clamshell Card, Clamshell Card,and more.
Related Articles -
Rfid Business Cards Manufacturer, China Clamshell Card,
|
