Editing Carabao (section)

==Conservation==
As of 2023, there are an estimated 2.74 million heads of carabaos in the Philippines. 99.3% are from smallhold farms, while the remaining 0.5% and 0.2% are from semi-commercial and commercial farms, respectively. The highest population of carabaos is from the [[Bicol Region]], with an estimated 324,220 heads, followed by the [[Western Visayas]] (251,570), [[Central Luzon]] (250,640), [[Central Visayas]] (218,290), and the [[Cagayan Valley]] (208,710).<ref name="psa">{{cite web |title=Carabao Situation Report, July-September 2023 |url=https://psa.gov.ph/livestock-poultry-iprs/carabao/inventory |website=Philippine Statistics Authority |publisher=Republic of the Philippines |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref>

Carabaos are increasingly being replaced by modern machinery, leading to more and more carabaos being slaughtered for meat as they lose their agricultural importance. They've also gone through population decimations in the past from diseases as well as carabao massacres in [[World War II]].<ref name="Roque2">{{cite journal |last1=Roque |first1=Anselmo S. |last2=Irang |first2=Ma. Cecilia C. |last3=Marcelo |first3=Chrissalyn L. |title=Native carabaos are forever |journal=PCC Newsletter |date=2015 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=12–15, 34 |url=https://www.pcc.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/newsletter-vol-14-no2.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Villamor2">{{cite news |last1=Villamor |first1=Lilian P. |title=CPG native carabao conservation: Current status and way forward |url=https://www.pcc.gov.ph/cpg-native-carabao-conservation-current-status-and-way-forward/ |access-date=11 February 2024 |work=Philippine Carabao Center |agency=Department of Agriculture, Republic of the Philippines |date=26 December 2019}}</ref>

Water buffalos have also been imported from abroad by the Philippine Carabao Center and crossbred with the carabao in an effort to develop a more productive breed for milk production. In 2015, an estimated 10,000 heads of the commercial herds of water buffalo in the Philippines are imported riverine-type breeds, most notably the [[Murrah buffalo]] (sourced from [[Brazil]], [[Bulgaria]], and [[Italy]]). Another 29,700 heads are crossbreeds of the carabao and imported river buffaloes.<ref name="Roque2"/>

Despite this, the PCC ensures that the native carabao gene pool is preserved by the [[cryopreservation]] of carabao [[germplasm]]. A cryobank facility for this purpose was inaugurated in 2012 in the Livestock Innovations and Biotechnology complex of the PCC national headquarters in [[Muñoz, Nueva Ecija]]. The cryobank also holds samples of other native breeds of domestic animals, as well as plans for the preservation of the germplasm of other threatened endemic species.<ref name="Roque2"/>

Various organizations have also created sanctuaries for native carabaos where slaughtering animals is restricted and the introduction of foreign breeds are banned. This includes the communal grazing grounds of [[Mahatao]] in the [[Batanes Islands]]; the national conservation site of carabaos in [[Peñablanca]] in [[Cagayan]]; and the municipality of [[President Carlos P. Garcia, Bohol|President Carlos P. Garcia]] in [[Lapinig Island]], [[Bohol]].<ref name="Roque2"/><ref name="Villamor2"/>