The Talarak Foundation Inc. highlighted the need for wildlife captive breeding and enhanced conservation initiatives to protect endangered species that are at risk, especially in the Visayas region.
Matt Ward, executive director of Talarak Foundation Inc., spoke on the importance of “breeding conservation” during the opening of the two-day 9th National Wildlife Quiz and Festival at the Macias Sports Center in Dumaguete City.
Ward told students and educators taking part in the Wildlife Quiz that conservation efforts can be done both in the wild and through captive breeding.
When wildlife species are threatened in their natural habitats, captive conservation is the best option for their preservation.
Captive conservation involves protecting species outside of their natural habitat in controlled settings, such as zoos, botanical gardens, aquariums, and seed banks.
“This is especially necessary when natural habitats like forests are destroyed. Those animals that lived in that forest have nowhere to go, and if we did nothing, they would die,” he said.
He added that captive conservation provides these animals with a safe environment where they can reproduce until they are ready to return to the wild.
Talarak Foundation Inc. is a Negros-based conservation group that breeds and maintains endangered endemic species for release into the wild.
Some of the endangered species in Negros are the Visayan Warty Pig, Visayan hornbill, and the Negros bleeding heart pigeon. | PNA
