BIEN-UNIDO – Awareness on marine wildlife protection and conservation has paid off. Rescuers composed of concerned citizens of this coastal town and Dauis town  have rescued and freed a dolphin specie and a sea turtle recently. Reports relayed by Physalus president Dr. Alessandro Ponzo DVM bared that Mayor Nino Rey Boniel called on the rescuers composing the Bohol Rescue Unit for Marine Mammals (BRUMM) for help salvage a dolphin entangled in a fishing net owned by a certain Alex Auxtero of this town. It was Auxtero who informed the mayor of the dolphin trapped in his fish net on the night of July 2 somewhere in the seawaters off this town, the mayor said. But Ponzo expressed concern over the way the dolphin “was held in captivity” overnight due to heavy downpour and under cover of darkness. The dolphin was tied by a rope, Ponzo said. It was a “dangerous procedures that would have resulted in breaking the spine of the animal,” he said.

In Dauis town, a sea turtle was caught in a mesh owned by Johnny Obispo, chairman of the Dauis Municipal Agri-Fishery council, and reported it to Ellen Gallares of the Bohol Marine Triangle. Wasting no time, Gallares called on the BRUMM and Victoria Elle, head of wildlife division, Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for assistance. Gallares said the turtle looked “stressed” when it was trapped with the fish net. The rescuers freed the turtle for good. It was a good thing according to Gallares, that the rescuers-fishermen saved the turtle and freed it rather than have the mammal slaughtered for viand. Mayor Boniel and Physalus expressed appreciation to the rescuers including Edilberto Nuera of the civil defense; Fr. Edgardo Modesto, parish priest; boat operators Auxtero and Jose Blanco and Winnie Mundin; Wilfredo Villamero of the local risk management council; C/Inps Felicito Garcia of the PNP; Marcelito Garcia, Raymund Daan Cornelio Cajes, Jose Garcia of Bohol Environment Management Office; and Jesreel Muera and marine biologist Kristina Pahang of Physalus. (RVO)