Rescue rehab and release Centers
Rescue Centers
Illegaly captured or injured birds and other wildlife are rehabilitated in our 3 rescue centers and then released back into the wild.
| our aim |
We foster, rehabilitate, and then release the wildlife.
One of our most obvious and longest activity is the rehabilitation and release of endangered wildlife at rescue centers in northwest Panay.
The wild animals
- are found by villagers or our PhilinCon rangers sick or shot in the rainforest or injured next to a street –
- we confiscate the captured endangered wildlife from illegal wildlife traders, poachers, hotels and local people –
- sometimes animals are handed over after years or decades of being held in a small cage, – birds usually suffering from weakend muscle and wrong diet
After bringing the injured, sick or orphaned animal to one of the three rehab stations (Mag-aba Wildlife Clinic; Bulanao Rescue Facility; Sibaliw Rehabilitation Station for hornbills) our veterinarian will determine the extent of injury and the probability of successful rehabilitation. If the animal can make a recovery and be released into the wild, it will be nurtured, trained, and medically taken care of. Otherwise the animal will be still nursed but stays in an animal sanctuary.
In the first step basic first aid and physical therapy will be applied to the animal. For this purpose the station staff received training explicit for the unique species found on Panay; they understand behavioral issues, nutritional requirements, and have knowledge about species-specific handling. Day-to-day care is applied to the animals; it includes feeding, physical therapy, exercise, medicating and a pre-release conditioning program. In the program, the animals are familiarized with their natural diet to enable them to survive when released back to the wild. To record the recuperation process, regular medical examinations are conducted.
Before releasing the animals, the reintroduction into the wild has to be carefully planned. To be released, the animal must be healthy, strong, and have intact wild instincts to survive in the wild. The releasing is not only solely dependent on the animal, it also hinge on the right habitat, location, season, sometimes even the weather. When all conditions are met, the animals are released into the wild.
We presently maintain several hornbills and raptors at two locations, Bulanao, Libertad, and Santo Rosario, Pandan. See our table of release.
| Our activitieS |
In our three rescue centers, injured animals are treated professionally until they can be released.
The animals admitted to each of the three rescue centers are checked for their health, treated professionally, if necessary by a vet, fed adequately and kept as long as necessary until they attain top shape in terms of plumage, health (pre-release health check) and locomotor abilities. Then they are released back into the wild. Hornbills pass through a rehabilitation station in the upland forest to accustom to their natural forest environment, larger raptors exercise sustained power flight in large aviaries prior to release from a lowland station.
| project duration |
The facilities have been maintained permanently since 1999.
| authorization |
Our MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) with the government authorizes us to receive and care for confiscated, donated, and rescued wildlife for rehabilitation, and later release them back into their former habitats. We presently (April 2020) maintain four hornbills and several raptors at two rescue & rehab centres. Our vet and the caretakers are properly trained care for the wildlife in the facilities.
| project costs |
The costs for e.g. one hornbill average around 200 USD annually. This includes food, medicine, caretaking, and health monitoring.
Animals under our care in our 3 facilities - from May 2021
Download here a list in pdf of the wilflife we had in November 2020 in our rescue and rehab centres
At the moment we do not have any animals under care – the animals below were relesead between June 2021 and January 2022.
Hornbills at Sibaliw Facility | Sex | Origin | Remarks |
2 Visayan Tarictic Hornbills (Penelopides panini) | male and female | Sebaste, Antique Brgy. Bagumbayan, Pandan, Antique | Turned over by a concerned citizen for rehabilitation then to be released once the result of blood samples are okay. |
1 Walden’s Hornbill (Rhabdotorrhinus waldeni) | male, juvenile | DENR CENRO Culasi | This bird is from Brgy. Paningayan, Culasi, Antique and was turned over to DENR Culasi which turned it over to PhilinCon on August 3, 2020. This bird was sent to Sibaliw Facility in preparation for the release back to the wild. |
Animals at Mag-aba Rehabilitation and Rescue | Sex | Origin | Remarks |
10 Brahminy Kites (Haliastur indus) | 2 were turned over by DENR CENRO Belison in 2016. 2 were turned over by DENR CENRO Belison in 2019. 6 were turned over by DENR Province through Ms. Rosalea C. on Sept. 18, 2020. One had an injured / infected right eye and is in bad shape. | These birds were brought to the Mag-aba rehabilitation and rescue center for supervision by Dr. Sanchez Jr., our project Vet. | |
Philippine Serpent eagle (Spilornis holospilus) | Brgy. Fragante, Pandan, Antique | Turned over by a concerned citizen of Brgy. Fragante, Pandan, Antique. Supposed to be released back into the wild in December 2020. | |
Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis)
Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) | Male Female | Turned over by DENR CENRO Culasi. Turned over from Brgy. Buang, Pandan, Antique | This male is too tame with humans, it is not yet ready to be released back into the wild. This Monkey was voluntarily turned over by former Brgy. Capatain of Brgy. Buang, Pandan, Antique. |
Philippine Honey Buzzard (Pernis steerei) | unknown | DENR PENRO San José, Antique | Turned over by DENR Province through Ms. Rosalea C. on Sept. 18, 2020. It will be translocated to the Mag-aba flight cage once the Serpent eagle is released. |
Animals at Bulanao Quarantine Facility
| Sex | Origin | Remarks |
No animals atm here | |||
We foster injured or captured animals, rehabilitate,
& release them back into the wild –
at our 3 rescue centers in northwest Panay
So far released animals
or unreleasable animals given to other facilities like breeding centers
long list at the bottom
Only released animals or brought to other facilities | Release | Brought to other facility | Release | Other facility | Release | Other facility | Release | Other facility | Release | Other facility | Release | Other facility | soon more info | ||
| till | 2006 | 2007 | 2009 | 2013 | 2015 | 2016 | |||||||||
| Hornbills | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | |||||
| Birds of Prey | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| other Birds | 4 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| Deers | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Monkeys | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Cats | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Snakes | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
| other Reptiles | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Total | |||||||||||||||
| Species | Release | Brought to other facility | Release | Other facility | Release | Other facility | Release | Other facility | Release | Other facility | Release | Other facility | Total Release | Total in other facilities | |
| till | 2006 | 2007 | 2009 | 2013 | 2015 | 2016 | |||||||||
| Hornbills | |||||||||||||||
| Penelopides panini | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 20 | ||||
| Rhabdotorrhinus waldeni | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Birds of Prey | |||||||||||||||
| Haliastur indus | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Spilornis holospilus | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | |||||
| Nisaetus cirrhatus | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0 | |||||||||
| Tyto longimembris | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | ||||||||||
| other Birds | |||||||||||||||
| Caprimulgus manillensis | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Chalcophaps indica | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Geopelia striata | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | |||||||||||
| Ixobrychus cinnamomeus | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Loriculus philippensis regulus | 2 | 6 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||
| Phapitreron leucotis nigrorum | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Prioniturus discurus | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Corvus macrorhynchos | 3 | 3 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Deers | |||||||||||||||
| Cervus (Rusa) alfredi | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Monkeys | |||||||||||||||
| Macaca fascicularis philippinensis | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
| Cats | |||||||||||||||
| Paradoxurus philippinensis | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Prionailurus bengalensis | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | ||||||||||
| Snakes | |||||||||||||||
Coelognathus erythrurus psephenourus | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Malayopython reticulatus | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | ||||||||||
| other Reptiles | |||||||||||||||
| Turtle | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | ||||||||||
| Varanus nuchalis | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | |||||||||||
| Total | 72 | 36 | |||||||||||||