Balabac mouse-deer conservation program
Description
Species name: Philippine mouse-deer
Scientific name: Tragulus nigricans
Country: Philippines – Palawan
Project website: www.katalafoundation.org
Due to its geographical and political isolation, the Philippines is both a hotspot and a megadiversity country, placing it among the top priority hotspots for global conservation.
Unfortunately, globalization, the development of transport and political changes in the region have made the Philippines, until recently called the last Ark, a paradise not for animals, but for poachers and wild animal traders. Perhaps this is the last chance to meet and save many endemic species inhabiting the islands of the Philippines.
The Balabac mousedeer, one of the smallest representatives of ungulates is endemic to the Philippines and is threatened with extinction through habitat destruction and poaching.
Wrocław Zoo, along with several other zoological gardens, is the founder of research and protection of this species by the KATALA Foundation in Palawan. The research program is very broad and assumes the estimation of the range of occurrence, abundance and the delineation of protection and translocation areas. The research will be carried out for several years in an area that is very difficult to access and dangerous for political and economic reasons.
