Van Weerd Fifty captive-bred Philippine Crocodiles have been released into the wild in the Philippines Zoom In

Conservation Leadership Programme helps give hope to threatened crocodile

11-08-2009

A project funded by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) has released fifty captive-bred Philippine Crocodiles Crocodylus mindorensis into the wild at Dicatian Lake, Luzon Island, Philippines, in an effort to save this species from extinction.

The community-based crocodile conservation programme was implemented by the Mabuwaya Foundation with funding from the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation.

The CLP started supporting this project (comprising of Filipino and Dutch conservationists) in 2002, and a CLP follow-up grant in 2003 funded the establishment of the Mabuwaya Foundation. In 2005 a further CLP grant of $75,000 was used to strengthen the Foundation’s staff capacity, to raise awareness, and to conduct ongoing crocodile conservation activities.

"This is a great achievement for the project and provides hope for the future of the Philippine Crocodile", said Kiragu Mwangi, Birdlife's Programme Officer for the Conservation Leadership Programme.

The Philippine Crocodile is the most threatened crocodile species on the planet and is endemic to the Philippines. It has virtually disappeared due to hunting, destructive fishing and habitat loss and it is estimated that only 100 mature individuals survive in the wild.

Nearby communities, which have been actively involved in the consultation process, are supportive of the reintroduction scheme and it is hoped that they will be able to generate an alternative income from a small community-based ecotourism project. They have received training from the Department of Tourism and facilities for crocodile-spotting, bird watching and camping have been built on the edge of the lake.

"This is a great achievement for the project and provides hope for the future of the Philippine Crocodile" —Kiragu Mwangi, BirdLife

In recent years, the Mabuwaya Foundation, in collaboration with the provincial government of Isabela, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Isabela State University and rural communities, has worked tirelessly on the ground to save this Critically Endangered species from extinction. The release of these crocodiles is a major step towards a recovery of the wild population and the future survival of this species.

Ten of the crocodiles have been fitted with radio transmitters and their movements will be monitored by the Mabuwaya Foundation and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to see how they adapt to their new habitat, and to gather scientific information as a basis for future crocodile reintroductions. Dicatian Lake was selected as the best site for the reintroduction as it is located within one of the most important protected areas of the Philippines (the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park), it contains an abundance of prey species, and no people living directly adjacent to the lake.

The CLP supports the vital work of a new generation of rising conservation professionals who are leading a number of diverse, practical projects – from developing an education centre promoting the conservation of important bird areas in Brazil, to protecting freshwater turtles in China, community-based conservation of an endangered tree species in Egypt, and dugong conservation in the Comoros and Madagascar. The programme is a partnership between BirdLife International, Fauna & Flora International, BP, Conservation International and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Watch a video about the Conservation Leadership Programme