Rare birds in Mt. Pulag face extinction – experts

BAGUIO CITY – Rare forest birds in Mt. Pulag, the country’s second highest peak located in Kabayan, Benguet, reportedly face extinction.

According to experts of the environment department, the loss of habitat is mainly causing the number of these rare animals to dwindle.

Teber Dionisio, chief of the Wildlife Management Section of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here, identified the endangered bird species as whiskered pitta (Pitta koctri) and the Luzon water-redstart (Rhyacomis bicolor).

Other species facing a similar fate include the flame-breasted fruit-dove (Ptilinopus marchei), Luzon scops-owl (Otus longicornis), chestnut-faced babbler (Stachyris white headi), long-tailed bush warbler (Bradypterus caudatus), and the white-browed jungle-flycatcher (Rhinomyias insignis), Dionisio said. 

These birds are mostly classified as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resource (IUCN).

Even the wild pig, Philippine deer, and the cloud rat found in Mt. Pulag are considered rare or prone to extinction, Dionisio said.

The DENR has identified two kinds of Mt. Pulag cloud rats – the Luzon bushy-tailed cloud rat (Cratenomys schaderbergi) and the Northern Luzon giant cloud rat (Phloemys palidos).

The Ibalois, an indigenous group in Benguet, living near Mt. Pulag, call the cloud rats bu-ot or buwet.

Experts blame excessive hunting and destruction of the forest habitat as villagers expand their agricultural areas for the threats facing these birds and other animals in Mt. Pulag, considered as a mecca for mountain climbers in Northern Luzon and a sacred mountain by the Ibalois of Benguet.

Dionisio, however, said locals are no longer hunting as they regularly used to, and are no longer training or breeding dogs specifically to hunt wild animals in Mt. Pulag.

But he said the expansion of farms at the foot of Mt. Pulag continues to go on, although he said the situation can still be averted.

While forest rangers usually conduct foot patrols in the area, Dionisio said community action is needed to check the situation.

He said residents of communities surrounding Mt. Pulag, particularly the tourist guides, are well-oriented on how to protect the area, including the reporting of bio-piracy cases, if there are any.

The National Integrated Protected Area Program used to have volunteers to watch over Mt. Pulag with assistance from the European Union for three years, until the funding stopped.

Dionisio said funds are needed to monitor and police agricultural expansion in Mt. Pulag, which was declared a national park in February 1987 by then President Corazon Aquino.

The national park covers 11,550 hectares, straddling the provinces Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya and Ifugao.