In December the Czech deputy minister of foreign affairs Tomáš Dub visited the Philippines. During this time he visited also Bohol Island, the field site of the Tarsius project led by a Czech zoologist focused on conservation of the Philippine tarsier. He has also a meeting with the undersecretary of policy and planning Demetrio L. Ignacio.

The Tarsus Project led by RNDr. Milada Řeháková, Ph.D. from Decin Zoo is involved in conservation of the Philippine tarsier in the Philippines intensively since 2009. The project has already achieved lot of success. The most important think is the role in closing of facilities displaying the Tarsiers as a tourist attraction in unsuitable conditions where they died soon and transfer of all the animals into a bigger naturally planted enclosure in Loboc. This happened soon after Dr. Milada Řeháková together with the Ambassador of the Czech Republic Josef Rychtar submitted reports to the Secretary of the Environment Ramon Paje and Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio.

On a meeting of the deputy minister Tomáš Dub, the ambassador Josef Rychtar, undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio and director of Protected Areas and Wildlife Management Bureau Theresa Mundita S. Lim, the undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio highlighted the that this goal was achieved mainly due to the effort and suggestion of the Czech zoologist Milada Řeháková-Petrů who is working on Bohol Island and submitted the suggestion for further improvements in her report.

Following this important step in tarsier conservation, the Departmenet of Enviromnent and Natural Resources approved extending the tarsier sanctuary in Corella and Sikatuna of additional 167 ha (8 ha so far) and the Czech deputy minister of foreign affairs and the ambassador participated on the official ceremony.

Download the press release.

The Philippine tarsier, the cute pixie with huge eyes is a common victim of an illegal pet trade and it also served as a tourist attraction and thus a welcome source of money. The Tarsius Project, lead by a Czech zoologist Dr. Milada Řeháková-Petrů from Decin Zoo focuses on research and conservation of the Philippine tarsier since 2009.

The Philippine tarsier is one of the symbols of the Philippines and especially of the Bohol Island. The local residents reacted to the growing tourism very skilfully. Almost ten new facilities were established along the main tourist rout from the famous beach in the south to the UNESCO Chocolate hills during last couple of years. They display these tiny animals, often incorrectly called the smallest monkey of the world. Despite they are an especially protected faunal species of the Philippines they are commonly displayed in conditions that are far from what they need for survival.

“I conducted a survey of all captive tarsier facilities on the main tourist route on Bohol Island and evaluated the condition in that the animals are kept and also behaviour of the visitors and guides. The results were shocking. The tarsiers were kept in a very limited area, some animals were apparently sick or dying. The nocturnal tarsier were permanently stressed,” says Dr. Řeháková.

If the displayed tarsiers die, their numbers are replenished by tarsiers captured from the wild. Growing demand on numbers of tarsier kept in captivity increases the numbers of illegally caught tarsiers from the wild. The tarsiers are thus slowly disappearing from neighbouring forests. This is the reality. Or it was, until the Czech team started to focus on this issue.

The Czech zoologist presented the results of her survey to the Minister of the Environment Ramon Paje and also the Undersecretary for policy and planning Demetrio Ignacio, DENR officials, Bohol governor Edgar Chatto and other authorities and a meeting was held in December 2010 especially because of this issue. This all wouldn’t be possible without help and support of the Ambassador of the Czech Republic Dr. Josef Rychtar.

During this year, it became apparent that these efforts bear the first fruits. The authorities recognized the seriousness of the whole situation, thanks to the efforts of Czech colleagues. It was decided that all the tarsiers from the facilities along the main tourist road will be transferred to more suitable conditions. Recently, a new enclosure naturally planted was opened in Loboc. Tarsiers find more space and also less stress here. The most importantly, this step will hopefully also cause a decrease of newly poached tarsiers.

Undersecretary Demeterio Ignacio told to the Czech Ambassador during their meeting that he had appreciated all the efforts done by Czech researchers, especially by Dr. Milada Řeháková whose conclusions and recommendations were accepted by DENR in further development of protection of tarsiers in specific conditions in Bohol island. He emphasized necessity of continuation of other steps suggested by Czech team to save this rare species which forms part of Filipino cultural heritage and national treasury.

“It is a great success, and I am very happy that all this happened so fast. It is an important step in tarsier conservation and I very much appreciate the decision of the Philippine authorities”, says Dr. Milada Řeháková, who focuses, apart from the activities already mentioned, also on conservation education of local people in cooperation with a local partner Simply Butterflies Conservation Centre in Bilar.

WAZA is the unifying organisation for the world zoo and aquarium community. Its more than 300 members include leading zoos, aquariums, associations, affiliate organisations and corporate partners from around the world. It promotes cooperation between zoological gardens and aquariums with regard to the conservation, management and breeding of animals in human care and encourages the highest standards of animal welfare and husbandry. It promotes environmental education, wildlife conservation and environmental research. Through branding (and promoting) of suitable conservation projects WAZA became more involved in in situ conservation.

We thank WAZA for this support!

Keeping of tarsiers for a tourist amusement is a sad issue. Since this documentary was created a few things have changes. As we informed you recently, the conditions of these animals are slowly improving thanks to our effort and cooperation with local authorities.

After the meeting focused on the captive tarsiers issue in December 2010, the first results occurred. At the beginning of this year DENR (Department for Environment and Natural Resources) stopped issuing of the permits for new tarsier holders. This ban has been valid since 2008 but was not implemented and new facilities have been established. It has stopped now.

35 captive tarsiers kept in inappropriate conditions were released by local politicians and DENR personnel on 22^nd July 2011 into the wild in Loboc area. We do not know if there were detailed preparations prior the release and if the animals will be monitored. But this act will for sure help to reduce abusing of tarsiers and the illegal trade and poaching.

The tourist spot operators and the stuff-toy makers protest against this act. Let’s hope that the interest in tarsiers and their future will be more important then the commercial interests.

Find more in The Bohol Standard article.

A dialogue on Philippine tarsier conservation was conducted on 12^thDecember 2010 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol. The main topic was tarsiers in captivity on Bohol island. The meeting was opened by a Bohol representative Mr. Abel Damalerio – SP, Committee chair on Environment on behalf of Mr. Rey Anthony Chiu, PIA – Bohol manager, followed by messages of Dir. Demetrio Ignacio – DENR USEC for Policy and Planning, Dr. Antonio Manila – Assistant director, PAWS – DENR and a special guest Dr. Josef Rychtar – Ambassador of the Czech Republic. The ambassador is an official supporter of the Tarsius project led by Czech scientist and conservationist Dr. Milada Petrů. All of them highlighted the need of our care of this unique species.

Tarsiers are not only very interesting animals; they are an important part of the Philippine nature. Unfortunately for them during past decades they started to play a main role in tourism and business. Despite they are strictly protected faunal species of the Philippines and despite they suffer and hardly survive in inappropriate conditions in captivity, tarsiers are seen on main tourist roads and shown as an attraction in conditions that are far from what they need to survive. These animals serve as a tool of owners’ income. The increasing demand on captive tarsiers increases number of tarsiers illegally caught in the wild. The tarsiers are slowly disappearing from the forests. This is the reality. If the nature and wildlife protectors will not act soon one day we will notice that there are no tarsiers left.

Dr. Milada Petrů presented result of her survey of facilities displaying tarsiers as a tourist attraction. The conditions in these facilities do not ensure welfare of tarsiers. The facilities do not have any value for conservation or education. More importantly, she presented suggestions for change based on her expertise and distributed husbandry guidelines to DENR personnel and tarsier holders.

As the topic is very sensitive the programme was followed by an intense discussion between those protecting needs of tarsiers on one side and those fighting for their business arising from displaying tarsiers as an attraction on the other side. Representatives of in nature protection, tourism, local government and tarsier holders were present.

As a governor Chatto said, “The meeting has been conducted on how to protect this primate, which is a symbol of Bohol and now a mascot of the whole country. Tarsiers should not be taken as an object of desire or of commercial value. If our foreign friends are concerned with our tarsiers, we ourselves must also be concerned for us and for our future generations.”

There is a big hope for tarsiers. The dialogue of tarsier conservation that brought together Czech scientist and conservationist, Ambassador of the Czech Republic being on his first visit on Bohol, DENR and local government representatives represents a big change in captive tarsier policy and will ensure better future for tarsiers..

The good and promising news for better tarsier future is that the first steps were already taken. The DENR accepted the recommendation for captive keeping of tarsiers suggested by Dr. Milada Petrů and they are already being implemented.

There is a strong need of establishing of a professional conservation centre. Dr. Milada Petrů, Ambassador of the Czech Republic and other tarsier experts and conservationists strongly believe that a proposed centre will get licence from DENR soon and that Philippine authorities including DENR and local governments will be very strict in their rules and regulations and will distinguish between facilities abusing the natural treasure and exploiting the wildlife and the proposed professional scientific centre run by experts for a better future of the species.

Text and photo: © The Tarsius Project, 2011

The article can be downloaded here.

it is a long time since we posted news on this website. The silence does not mean though that we done with the project. We keep beining involved in tarsier research and conservation.

The Czech team returned from the field in December last year as we informed you. Since that time we have been busy analyzing the data we recorded in the field. The radio-telemetric data will provide information about exact movement of tarsiers and the area they used during the time they were tagged with the radio-transmitters and observed. This information will be very important for our understanding of biology of this species and will help to plan future conservation in-situ.

Apart from this we keep close contact with the Simply Butterfly Conservation Centre in Bilar, Bohol, where we spent last year and the conservation activities continue there.

In the Czech Republic we are active with activities directed to local people, informing about our work and need of tarsier conservation. (This info is posted on our website in Czech only).

We will bring you further news from the Philippines soon.