ABC CBN (Philippines) 21 June 07 Rare RP snakes fly home to Batanes (Jack Castaño)

Basco, Batanes: Fifteen months after they were taken here to be brought to Malaysia, 12 snakes that can be found only in these islands were returned here on Tuesday morning.

The reptiles, known as Batanes pit vipers (trimeresurus mcgregon) belong to the threatened and rarest snake species in the Philippines. They are endemic to the Batanes Group of Islands, specifically in Batan (mainland Batanes) and Sabtang islands.

George Reyes, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources officer, said the 12 snakes are part of the 129 reptiles of various species confiscated by a joint team of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-National Capital Region’s Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit, the Bureau of Customs and authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on March 16, 2006. Steven Toledo of the DENR’s Protected Area Wildlife Bureau, who led authorities in bringing home the reptiles, said they were to be exported to Sungai Zoo in Penang, Malaysia via a Thai Airways plane.

“Timely detection of the illegal shipment prompted airport authorities to intervene,” Toledo said.

Mario Lutz, a German national, who owns and operates Herpa World, Inc., a pioneering farm for snakes and other reptiles in the country in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, took care of the snakes from the time they were intercepted until they arrived here.

Lutz said of the original 53 confiscated vipers, only 13 survived in captivity, including the 12 released last Tuesday in the wilderness at the foot of Mt. Iraya.

One snake will remain with Lutz for treatment and rehabilitation. It will eventually be released here as soon as its condition stabilizes.

Outgoing Gov. Vicente Gato laments the illegal shipment of the snakes, which happened despite the province’s status as a protected area. He gave assurances though that this incident will never happen again.

“We have better trained inspectors at the airport and with several volunteer groups monitoring our wildlife, it would be almost impossible for snakes and other endangered species to escape detection,” Gato said.
Rare RP snakes fly home to Batanes

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