The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is now investigating old records to check whether the DENR or any of its regional offices have approved the importation of North American serval cats, according to DENR assistant secretary Ricardo Calderon.
“Right now, the burden of proof is on the alleged owner. If he fails to show proper documentation for these wild animals, he is into trouble,” Calderon was quoted in a report.
This move was done after discovering two of these rare breeds were kept as pets in a gated subdivision in Antipolo City.
DENR added that sources said these cats were being used as an attraction in a coffee shop in Quezon City.
“Allegedly, the coffee shop was closed down and the cats were brought to Antipolo,” Calderon said.
“If these have no import permit coming from the DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau, or Regional Offices, then it must have been smuggled into the country,” he added.
“We are conducting further investigation into this because serval cats are threatened species and they are not supposed to be kept as pets,” Calderon, the concurrent director of the DENR-BMB, said.
The Provincial Environment and Natural Resource Office (Penro) of Rizal and the DENR-BMB conducted a joint operation where it seized four exotic pets including two serval cats on Wednesday.
