The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) commends the Central Game Warden Unit, Forestry Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) Southern Division Task Force on their recent operation to protect our National Bird and Environmentally Sensitive Species, the Scarlet Ibis.
The EMA commends both agencies on this joint exercise which led to the arrest of an alleged perpetrator. Our National Bird is one of Trinidad and Tobago’s thirteen Environmentally Sensitive Species (ESS). In 1963 the Scarlet Ibis was declared a protected species under the Conservation of Wildlife Act, Chapter 67:01. In 2018, it was also designated as an ESS under the ESS Rules, 2001 as prescribed under the Environmental Management Act, Chapter 35:05. This maximum legal protection under the ESS Rules, 2001 prohibits the disturbance, harm or sale of the species and its eggs, and the destruction of its habitat. The public is reminded that the penalty for causing damage to our national bird and any other ESS is One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000) and imprisonment for two (2) years.