NEWS: Tarsier found inside QC bus dies

[admin]

Tarsier found inside QC bus dies hours after rescue
Jul 5, 2013

A tarsier rescued at a bus terminal in Quezon City on Thursday was found dead inside its cage Friday morning, a television report said.

The Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) has yet to determine the cause of the tarsier’s death, according to a report on GMA News' “24 Oras,” adding the endangered animal will undergo necropsy.

Based on an external examination, the 124-gram tarsier was found to have “rope burns” on its chest and stomach, the report said.

“Hindi naman magkakaroon ng rope burns kung hindi naman mahigpit ‘yung tali, so possible na masikip din 'yung pagkakatali sa kanya,” Dr. Rizza Salinas, officer-in-charge at PAWB’s Wildlife Rescue Center, said in the report.

The long bus ride from Samar to Manila may have caused stress to the tarsier, which was found Thursday tied inside a bus that was parked at a terminal on P. Tuazon street in Quezon City.

The report said the small primate is known to take its own life whenever removed from its natural habitat.

Through biometrics and DNA, the authorities will also determine whether the smuggled tarsier was from Samar or Bohol, places where tarsiers are commonly found.

For her part, PAWB director Theresa Mundita-Lim explained that smuggling tarsier can be a threat not only to the species but also to the ecosystem it belongs to.

“Kaunti na nga lang ‘yung population nila, babawasan pa natin. ‘Pag nag-extinct ‘yan, may mga insects (na darami) at minsan itong mga insects na ito sila pa ‘yung source ng mga emerging diseases. ‘Yung impact niyan sa ecosystem natin ay maaaring malalim,” she said in the same television report.

PAWB had earlier rescued a tarsier from Forbes Park golf course, but it also died days later reportedly due to stress brought upon by the new environment. — Rouchelle Dinglasan/KBK, GMA News

Source: www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/316180/news/metromanila/tarsier-found-inside-qc-bus-dies-hours-after-rescue

[admin]

Tarsier, ‘icon of PH tourism,’ sought out as pets–foundation
Matikas Santos/Inquirer
July 6, 2013

Growing popularity and association with a top tourist destination in the country drive people to take them away from their natural habitat and make them their pets, the Philippine Tarsier Foundation Inc. (PTFI),said Friday after the death of a second tarsier rescued in Quezon City.

PTFI program manager Joannie Mary Cabillo said in an exclusive phone interview with Inquirer.net that “the tarsier is becoming very famous. It’s already a tourism icon, and an icon of the Philippines.”

“There are places where you can get tarsiers, not just (the tourist crowd-drawer) Bohol but also Mindanao. There could not be any place in Metro Manila where they can thrive, so most of them will likely be brought in for the pet trade,” she added.

The Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) said they rescued another tarsier found in a box in a Quezon City bus terminal on Tuesday.

The tarsier died Thursday. The cause of death was still not clear, but PAWB Director Mundita Lim said it was not eating much when they took care of it.

“People are interested in having tarsiers as pets and because of of this, there are many poachers who sell them to interested buyers,” Cabillo said.

On June 21, a tarsier was rescued in the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City, but it died five days later.

Cabillo said the people who brought these tarsiers from their natural habitats in the Visayas and Mindanao region either sell them or keep them as pets.

“That’s the only thing we can think of. And it’s something that involves money,” Cabillo added. “Tarsiers are very very popular, that’s why they’re there in Manila. That would not happen if they’re not popular.”

The Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta), which is endemic only to the country, should be kept in their natural habitat, Cabillo said, citing the benefits it brings to the growing eco-tourism industry.

“Actually, they’re very boring animals if they are kept as pets. They just sit around and sleep all day, and at night, they like to travel and hunt,” she added, citing their nocturnal nature.

Saying that tarsiers are not the only endemic species in the Philippines hunted down by poachers, Cabillo stressed that government officials should be more strict in the enforcement of environment and wildlife regulations.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Philippine tarsier as a “Near Threatened” species, citing a population decline over the last 20 years, habitat loss, and “harvesting for the pet trade.”

“It is heavily harvested as food and especially for the pet trade. This is illegal, but there are recent anecdotal reports that the pet markets in Manila are being flooded with tarsiers retailing at less than P500 each,” the IUCN said on its website.

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net/439309/tarsier-icon-of-ph-tourism-sought-out-as-pets-foundation#ixzz2YDm2ALg4

[admin]

Another rescued tarsier dies
By Rhodina Villanueva / The Philippine Star
July 6, 2013

MANILA, Philippines - A second tarsier recently rescued by the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) died of heart failure Thursday.

PAWB Director Theresa Mundita Lim said the tarsier was found inside a bag at a bus station in Project 4, Quezon City last Tuesday.

A concerned citizen reported the incident that led to the rescue of the tarsier.

“A veterinarian who initially examined the tarsier said (it) died of heart problem,” Lim said.

The tarsier was found stashed inside a bag that was left in a bus with a Cubao-Tiwi, Albay route.

The tarsier, just like the first one, will also be brought to the University of the Philippines-College of Veterinary Medicine for histopathology or microscopic examination.

Officials said the process would take some two weeks to confirm the findings.

Earlier, a tarsier that was found sitting on a tree branch inside the Manila Golf Club in Makati City and turned over to PAWB also died of heart failure.

Lim said the necropsy conducted on the tarsier showed the tarsier had contracted pneumonia.

[admin]

Another tarsier, boxed on a bus, dies in urban jungle
By DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 6, 2013

In another dose of bad news for wildlife conservationists, a tarsier was found in Metro Manila and died a few days later despite efforts to feed it and simulate its natural habitat at an animal rescue center, an environment official announced on Friday.

The loss came two weeks after another tarsier, an endangered species, turned up in the urban jungle—on a golf course in Makati City—and died five days later.

The second tarsier was found inside a juice box that was apparently left behind by a passenger on a bus in Project 2, Quezon City, according to Theresa Mundita Lim, director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB).

The 124-gram adult male was turned over to PAWB’s care at Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center on July 2 and placed in the same cage where the first tarsier was kept.

Caretakers placed leaves and branches in the cage to simulate the creature’s forest habitat and tried to feed it mealworm, a food substitute for insect-eating animals in captivity.

“But it would not eat even when we tried to give it other types of food,” Lim said.

Late Thursday afternoon, the PAWB chief received a report from veterinarian Rizza Salinas that the second tarsier had also died. The cause of death was not immediately known, but Lim said “we were not really surprised because at the start it looked weaker than the first tarsier and it was not eating any food.”

The tiny primate was found in a juice box left on an Elavil tourist bus that came from Samar province, Lim noted.

“Because the bus came from Samar, we’re fairly sure the tarsier was taken from there,” she said, adding that tarsiers are also found in neighboring Bohol and Leyte provinces.

Lim expressed frustration over people who would still take tarsiers from the wild to be their pets.

“This is disturbing. People think tarsiers are cute and want to keep them. They don’t realize that tarsiers don’t survive for very long outside their natural habitat.”

The government’s tourism campaign, which often features tarsiers in its ads as one of the natural attractions in the Philippines, had apparently raised awareness about the animal, she noted.

The first ill-fated tarsier was found June 21 on a tamarind tree at the Manila Golf and Country Club inside the upscale Forbes Park subdivision.

According to its PAWB handlers, it initially showed no signs of stress and ate well when placed in a small cage, but often stayed out of view behind leaves and branches. Pneumonia and cardiac arrest were listed as the cause of its death.

The Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) is one of the smallest known primates in the world, growing no larger than an adult person’s hand. Its size ranging from 118 to 149 millimeters, it usually weighs between 113 to 142 grams.

Endemic to the Philippines, tarsiers are nocturnal creatures that live on a diet of small lizards, frogs and insects. They have thin, rough fur, whose color ranges from gray to dark brown.

In 1986, the Philippine tarsier was listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Conservation Monitoring Center. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species currently categorizes the species as near threatened.

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net/439311/another-tarsier-boxed-on-a-bus-dies-in-urban-jungle#ixzz2YFlAWYjV