By Jonathan L. Mayuga
RESIDENTS of Barangay San Francisco, Bulacan, Bulacan, formally turned over two of three rescued Philippine scops owl chicks to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The scops owl chicks were picked up by a team from the DENR Regional Office on Wednesday morning, said one of its rescuers, Lorenzo Santos, 21.
Santos said he and his father found the scops owl chicks while looking for fuel wood in the forest two weeks ago. Apparently newly hatched, the scops owl chicks were “running” astray on the ground at the boundary of their barangay and nearby Barangay Tabang, Guiguinto, Bulacan.
“We thought they were quail birds [pugo]. When we caught them, we realized they were actually young owls. We decided to bring them home because we didn’t know where their nest was,” Lorenzo said.
He said they kept the birds at a cage and fed them with chicken meat for days while deciding what to do with them.
One of the chicks died on Tuesday, a day after Lorenzo heeded the advice of his cousin, William Linag, to turn over the chicks and inform the DENR about it.
“We didn’t know what to do. We searched the internet and found out that they were scops owl. But we were feeding them. Unfortunately, one of the chicks died before the DENR team picked them up,” Linag said.
Lorenzo posted a photo of the chicks in his Facebook account to ask for help, calling the attention of concerned netizens to help facilitate the turn-over to the DENR.
Upon learning of the situation, Director Theresa Mundita Lim of the DENR’s Biodiversity Mangement Bureau (BMB) called the attention of the DENR Regional Office, requesting them to immediately send people to pick up the scops owls.
On Wednesday the team finally arrived and took the scops owl chicks. It was not immediately known where they plan to bring the chicks, but Santos and Linag said they need intensive care because they are still young and would not survive without expert care.
Scops owl (Otus megalotis) is a common owl endemic to the Philippines.
Like other known owl species, scops owl prey at night on insects, live alone or in monogamous pairs.
Scops owl breed through the year, laying clutches of 1-2 eggs and nest in tree holes in lowland forests in Luzon, according to BirdLife International.
In the Philippines, more than half of the native bird species are threatened and are listed as “endangered” because of hunting and the massive destruction of habitat.
The DENR-BMB is mandated to implement the Wildlife Act which promotes the protection and conservation of all wildlife and their ecosystems. The law prohibits catching and making pets out of wild animals.