COTABATO CITY: While environmentalists are passionately preserving the endangered Philippine Eagles in the country, some are trying to destroy them and, worst, kill the country’s national bird.
On July 8, environmentalists and civil society organizations cried over the untimely passing of ‘Mangayon,’ one of the few eagles under the care of the Davao City-based Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF).
In a statement released Thursday, Elyjun Acedo, DENR-PENRO Davao de Oro, informed the PEF about the wounded eagle in the custody of an Army patrol base in Barangay Mangayon, Compostela town.
Soldiers discovered the weakened eagle with an apparent left-wing injury on the ground in Bermuda, a part of Barangay Mangayon.
PEF Senior Animal Keeper Dominic Tadena and PEF Senior Biologist Rowell Taraya from Davao City rushed to Compostela Valley to retrieve the injured eagle for further medical examination.
An emotional encounter occurred when the team arrived in Compostela.
‘The team found the eagle was being cradled by
a soldier, lying on his lap with its leg tied with nylon and covered with a red shirt. The eagle appeared lethargic,’ the PEF said in their statement.
‘Mangayon,’ a male eagle, has a prominent open injury on its left wing. The initial assessment revealed that the eagle weighed five kilograms and had a body condition score of 1 (BCS1), indicating slight thinness and dehydration.
The eagle was transported to Davao City for further medication. However, Mangayon remained lethargic during the entire trip.
Upon arrival in Davao, the eagle underwent a series of physical and medical examinations. The medical assessment revealed severe damage, with shattered bones observed in the left tarsal joints.
It was believed the bird was shot by ‘jolen gun’ or a real gun in the forest of Compostela or Davao de Oro.
Dr. Bayani Vandenbroeck, the PEF veterinarian, discovered an entry wound in the left tarsal area of the eagle’s wing, which exited through the opposite side and extended to the left keel area of Mangayon’s wing.
At 9:49 p.m. on July 8, Mangayon succumbed to his injuries and was declared deceased.
‘The necropsy results revealed that Mangayon was a healthy male eagle with all internal organs in good condition. The primary cause of death was severe blood loss from the wounds in the left wing, with a high probability of sepsis stemming from the injuries,’ the PEF said.
This is the fourth case of a rescue attempt in 2024, with Eagle ‘Lipadas’ rescued in Mt. Apo in January and eagles ‘Kalatungan’ of Bukidnon and ‘Nariha Kabugao’ in Apayao last March.
Like the eagle from Compostela, these birds were also victims of gunshot.
The PEF appealed for increased government intervention to save the critically endangered national bird.
“We need to level up our interventions, but we need to do it soon,’ said Dennis Salvador, the PEF executive director, adding that they would mostly need the help of local government units and the national government.
“The civil society sector can only do so much. There should also be additional f
inancing to a systematic and nationwide species survival campaign before it’s too late for our national bird,’ the veteran eagle conservationist said.
Source: Philippines News Agency
