CEBU City Hall will train over 100 employees of its Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) to become wildlife enforcement officers in order to monitor sellers of endangered wildlife.
This came after the City Council called the DVMF’s attention to an advisory issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional office tagging Cebu as a hotspot for smuggled endangered species.
DENR–7 specifically identified Magallanes Street in Cebu City as a trading area for endangered wildlife.
The council passed a resolution calling on DVMF and the DENR to investigate the area.
But DVMF chief and Cebu City Veterinarian Dr. Alice Utlang said they were not deputized by the DENR to arrest traders of endangered wildlife.
“The Wildlife Resource Conservation and Protection Act required the deputation of a wildlife enforcement officer,” Utlang said.
She said her office is willing to work with DENR to crack down on these traders.
Some wildlife species like parakeets and cockatoos were confiscated from vendors by the DENR–7 during a raid in Magallanes Street, Cebu City last March.
Violators will be fined P100,000 to P1 million or face imprisonment from six to 12 years.