Calauit Safari Park

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Calauit Safari Park
Calauit Safari Park 22.jpg
Calauit Safari Park
12°18′N119°54′E / 12.300°N 119.900°E / 12.300; 119.900
Date opened1976
Location Calauit Island, Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines
Land area3,700 hectares (9,100 acres)
No. of animals1,870
Website www.calauitisland.com/history.html

Calauit Safari Park is a wildlife sanctuary in the Philippines which was originally created in 1976 as a game reserve featuring large African mammals, translocated there under the orders of the President Ferdinand Marcos during his 21-year rule of the country. [1] [2]

Contents

Today, populations of Reticulated giraffe and Grévy's zebra still roam the park, while the populations of Waterbuck, Common Eland, Impala, Topi, Bushbuck, and Thomson’s gazelle have died out. But an expansion of the program initiated by local officials in the 1980s to conserve indigenous species has resulted in the successful conservation of Calamian deer, Palawan bearded pig, Philippine crocodile, Philippine porcupine, Binturong, and Philippine mouse-deer.

The park is located in Calauit Island, a 3,700-hectare (9,100-acre) island in the Calamian Islands chain that lies off the coast of Palawan in the Mimaropa region of the Philippines.

History

Conceptualization

The first historically documented discussions regarding the Calauit Safari Park took place when Ferdinand Marcos approached David Anthony "Tony" Parkinson, [3] an Englishman whose business venture at the time was the translocation of African animals into zoos, on the sidelines of the Fourth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD IV) held in May 1976 in Nairobi, Kenya. [4] (UNCTAD V, the next session, would be held in Manila three years later, in 1979. [5] )

Marcos approached Parkinson with a "briefcase-full" of money and hired him to collect large African mammals that would be brought to an island in the Philippines to populate a new "Safari park." [4]

Rationalizations for translocation

Marcos' explanation for why he wanted to create the park was that his administration was responding to a Kenyan government request to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for help in conserving endangered animal species. [4] However, the IUCN has no record of any such request. [4]  The movement of the animals so far from their natural range also goes against long-standing IUCN policies on wildlife translocation. [4]

The Marcoses were eventually deposed in the mostly-peaceful 1986 EDSA Revolution, the wildlife park soon became a symbol of the profligacy of the Marcos family during their 21-years in power. [6]  It became colloquially known as “Bongbong’s Safari Park” because Marcos' son, Bongbong Marcos, was known for having flown to the island by helicopter to hunt native wild boar. [6]

Creation through Presidential Proclamation

On August 31, 1976, under Presidential Proclamation No. 1578, the island was declared a game preserve and wildlife sanctuary. [7]

The secluded Calauit Island was considered the ideal location due to its size, terrain, and vegetation. A private, non-profit organization, Conservation and Resource Management Foundation (CRMF), was placed in charge of the forest preserve and wildlife sanctuary. [8]

Island clearing before translocating animals

Relocation of indigenous peoples

Before the park opened in 1977, an estimated 254 families, [4] [9] mostly members of Tagbanwa tribes, were evicted and relocated to Halsey Island, a former leper colony [10] 40 kilometers away. The eviction of Tagbanwa families was done under stress and duress according to a United Nations report on human and indigenous rights. [11]

These indigenous people campaigned against the relocation after realizing that Halsey Island was stony and had no capability to sustain agriculture. The resettled families often had to go hungry.[ citation needed ] However, because the Philippines was under martial law then, they were relocated to Halsey Island nonetheless. [12]

Clearing of bamboo forest

While the island of Calauit was selected for the game resort because it had a climate very similar to Kenya, it differed from the imported animals' original environment because it had bamboo forests instead of savannahs. These were cleared by tractors before the arrival of the animals. [2]

Translocation of animals

Calauit Safari Park Calauit Safari Park.jpg
Calauit Safari Park

Between May 1976 and August 1977, [4] 104 feral African animals from eight species were brought to the island: 12 bushbucks, 11 elands, 11 gazelles, 15 giraffes, 18 impalas, 12 waterbucks, 10 topis, and 15 zebras. The animals were transported to the island by the ship MV Salvador on March 4, 1977. Without natural predators, the population of animals grew to 201 after five years, with 143 animals born on Calauit itself. The giraffe and zebra populations in particular were thriving.[ citation needed ]

[13]

1980s expansion to conserve indigenous species

As of 2005, local animals on the island included 1,200 Calamian deer, 22 mouse-deer, 4 Palawan bearcats, 5 crocodiles, and 2 wild pigs. The sanctuary has also been home to Palawan peacock pheasants, porcupines, sea eagles, wildcats, scaly anteaters, and pythons. There have also been programs to rejuvenate and protect the island's marine resources, forests, and mangroves. In the island’s waters live dugongs, sea turtles, and giant clams. Calauit’s coral reefs, once badly damaged by invasive fishing practices, have recovered and are now rich breeding grounds for fish and crustaceans.

The "Balik Calauit Movement"

For decades since their eviction, local and indigenous families struggled to return to what the Tagbanwa's consider their ancestral lands. [11] [12] [14]

In 2010, the government of the Philippines recognized the Tagbanwa's rights to their ancestral lands. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples on March 3, 2010, turned over to the Tagbanwa community a property title for Calauit Island and 50,000 hectares of surrounding ancestral waters. [15]

Transfer of administration to provincial government

Through Executive Order No. 722 ratified on December 12, 2008, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo transferred the administration of the sanctuary from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development to the Provincial Government of Palawan. Its name was then changed to Calauit Safari Park. [16] It has become an eco-tourism attraction. [17]

2010s poaching incidents

By April 28, 2016, the authorities have arrested two people in the midst of the park on the suspicion of poaching. The claim was later proven to be true when the authorities inspected 2 shotguns, 3 dynamites, an animal skinning rack, 5 dried animal skin and 5 skeletal remains of an endangered Calamian deer. [18]

The Palawan government reached out to settle the disputes between the locals and the authorities in the park. Before the term of President Noynoy Aquino ended, a resolution was forged which halted the hunting of animals in the area.[ citation needed ]

Fauna

Zebras at Calauit Safari Park Calauit Safari Park of Coron.jpg
Zebras at Calauit Safari Park

The Calauit island safari park is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Philippines. The climate in the Philippines being almost similar to that of Kenya allowed some of the animals to flourish in the park.

List of animals present in the Park:

Former animals in the park:

Below are the former introduced animals in the park which have died out due to territorial disputes and the threat of illegal hunting.

Local animals in the park

Future projects

In May 2017, authorities began plans to add new attractions to the park to increase their budget for tourism. [19]

See also

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References

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