Post by admin on Jul 11, 2013 5:43:15 GMT 8
Rare Philippines vipers saved from poachers
June 25, 2007
AFP)
A dozen highly venomous pit vipers were returned to the wilds of the northern Philippines after a foiled attempt to smuggle the endangered snakes to a Malaysian zoo, the government said Monday.
The Batanes pit vipers, one of the rarest snake species in the Philippines, were released last week in the Batan island group, where they are endemic, the environment and natural resources department said in a statement Monday.
In March 2006, Manila airport customs and quarantine officials foiled an attempt to smuggle 129 reptiles, including 53 Batanes vipers to a Penang zoo, the statement said.
Only 13 of the severely stressed and dehydrated vipers survived, the statement said, adding it took a year to nurse the snakes back to health at a private wildlife farm on Mindoro island, where one viper still remains.
The department said the smuggling case was under investigation and the exporter could still face criminal charges.
June 25, 2007
AFP)
A dozen highly venomous pit vipers were returned to the wilds of the northern Philippines after a foiled attempt to smuggle the endangered snakes to a Malaysian zoo, the government said Monday.
The Batanes pit vipers, one of the rarest snake species in the Philippines, were released last week in the Batan island group, where they are endemic, the environment and natural resources department said in a statement Monday.
In March 2006, Manila airport customs and quarantine officials foiled an attempt to smuggle 129 reptiles, including 53 Batanes vipers to a Penang zoo, the statement said.
Only 13 of the severely stressed and dehydrated vipers survived, the statement said, adding it took a year to nurse the snakes back to health at a private wildlife farm on Mindoro island, where one viper still remains.
The department said the smuggling case was under investigation and the exporter could still face criminal charges.