DVMF to train employees to go after illegal wildlife traders

The Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries expressed willingness to have its employees undergo training to become wildlife enforcement officers following the city council’s resolution to go after illegal wildlife traders on Magallanes Street, Cebu City.

The attention of the DVMF was called by the Cebu City Council last March after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR – 7) tagged Cebu as a hot spot for smuggled endangered animals.

DENR – 7 particularly pointed out Magallanes Street in Cebu City where illegal traders frequent.

This prompted the council to pass a resolution urging DENR – 7 last March as well as the DVMF to investigate and monitor the area.

But in a letter dated April 13, DVMF chief and Cebu City veterinarian, Dr. Alice Utlang, said that their office is constrained by law not to apprehend illegal traders unless they are deputized in doing so.

“I am always with a full heart willing to undertake measures to curtail the illegal trades wildlife, however, I am constrained by the provisions of the legal authority on the wildlife conservation more specifically the Wildlife Resource Conservation and Protection Act which specifically provided in Section for the deputation of the wildlife enforcement officer,” stated Utlang in her letter.