WWF honors three for saving dolphin

MANILA, Philippines - The environmental group World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature has awarded three Filipinos, including an eight-year-old boy, with plaques and cash for saving a stranded dolphin in San Teodoro, Oriental Mindoro.

WWF chairman Vincent Perez Jr. said eight-year-old Carl Andrei Leuterio, a third grader from San Teodoro Central School, was the first to report his find to authorities.

Leuterio said he was playing with other boys by the sea when they saw the dolphin. The WWF quoted Leuterio as saying, “It was as big as a whale but it looked so weak. I told the grown-ups about it.”

The 2.5-meter Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) was found ailing by the shoreline of Barangay Poblacion in San Teodoro last Sept. 2. The dolphin appeared weak, with noticeable red eyes and heavy skin secretions.

Bantay Dagat member Terence Panado and Municipal Fishery Management officer-in-charge Jacinto Abdon were the first on the scene. Elements of the Philippine National Police and Municipal Agriculture Office followed. Three hours later, the dolphin was guided to deeper waters and released.

Leuterio, Panado and Abdon were recognized at the San Teodoro Municipal Hall in a simple ceremony last week. San Teodoro Mayor Apollo Ferraren and WWF-Philippines’ Johnjoe Cantos presented the trio with plaques and modest cash endowments.

Since 2009, WWF-Philippines has actively recognized ordinary individuals who show decisive environmental action through its WWF Heroes of the Environment Program.

Small cetaceans such as porpoises and dolphins fall outside the protection of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which has been attempting to manage the commercial hunting of whales since 1946.

The fishing town of Donsol, where the hunting of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) has been replaced by commercially-successful whale shark eco-tours, could serve as an excellent example. In just over a decade, the once sleepy sixth-class municipality has been transformed into a prosperous 1st-class municipality.