Cebu university students, professors in trouble for killing endangered birds

Cebu Daily News

Endangered Black Shama (Copsychus cebuensis) also known as Siloy. CDN/TONEE DESPOJO

CEBU CITYThree former biology students and their professors in Cebu City were charged with violation of the law on wildlife protection for cutting up eight Black Shama birds for a research project to find out what they eat.

The birds, locally known as Siloys, are endemic or native to Cebu, and found in dwindling forest patches.

The Black Shama is an endangered species and should not have been killed, said the criminal complaint filed by the Protected Area and Wildlife Division (PAWD) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 7.

The college students, who had a permit from the DENR 7, said they thought they already had the agencys go-signal to dissect the birds to study their diet. The birds were caught in protected forests of Tabunan in Cebu City and southern towns of Alcoy and Argao.

Their thesis Gut content composition of Cebu Black Shama was submitted to the biology department of Cebu Normal University as a thesis requirement for their graduation last March 2014. But the PAWD said the gratuitious permit issued in January 15, 2014 for the conduct of scientific research does not sanction killing the birds.

We read and reviewed (the study) and gravely found out that the students together with their advisers violated the terms and conditions in their Wildlife Gratuitous Permit by killing/dissecting eight (8) heads of Black Shama (Copsychus cebuensis), an endangered species which was not stipulated in their permit, said Rainier Manlegro, a technical staff member of the PAWD, who filed the complaint on Sept. 3 with the Cebu City Prosecutors Office.

Miscommunication

During a technical conference in the DENR office before the case was filed, a lawyer of one of the professors said the problem arose from miscommunication by the parties on how to secure the permit. He said the activity was done for science research, and not to exploit wildlife. The bodies of the eight Black Shama birds were stuffed and mounted.

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Cebu university students, professors in trouble for killing endangered birds