Nanawagan si Sen. Loren Legarda na tigilan na ang “wildlife smuggling” kasabay ng paggunita ng World Environment Day ngayong Linggo.
Ang pahayag ni Legarda ay alinsunod sa panawagan ng United Nations (UN) na labanan ang nasabing ilegal na transaksiyon sa bansa lalo dahil banta na rin ito sa ating kalikasan.
Base sa ulat ng Philippine Center for Terrestrial and Aquatic Research (PCTAR), ang Pilipinas ang pangunahing pinagkukunan ng amphibians at reptiles.
“The Philippine forest turtle endemic to Palawan is listed as ‘critically endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. In June 2015, at least 3,900 of these freshwater turtles were recovered from a warehouse in Bataraza town in Palawan, the biggest haul of wildlife in recent years,” sabi ni Legarda. (Leonel Abasola)
