The duck is classified as Critically Endangered. Experts believe destruction of wetlands has a large part in the animal’ss decline, others argue that hunting is a problem as numerous people have been caught killing the animal and then trying to have it mounted for taxidermy.
Only three other times has this rare animal been seen in the Philippines – all in wetland regions – in March 1979 in Candaba; November 1999 in Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Lagoon in Quezon City; and February 2003 in Bislig, Surigao del Sur.