Almost half of rescued PH Eagles injured by guns

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) – Seven of the 16 Philippine Eagles rescued from 2019 until January 2024 sustained injuries from either air guns or custom-made marble (jolen) guns, the Philippine Eagle Foundation reported on Thursday.

Dr. Jayson Ibañez, director of PEF’s research and conservation, said he is saddened by these recurring incidents despite their extensive awareness campaign programs to protect the critically endangered raptor.

Ibañez asked law enforcement agencies to intensify their campaign against loose firearms, including the custom-made “jolen guns,” around the known nesting sites of the national bird.

Last Jan. 2, the PEF rescued a Philippine Eagle along Lipadas River in Toril District, Davao City by trapping it. Its right eye was blinded and believed to have been shot with a jolen gun.

Ibañez said the law enforcers should regulate possession or even prohibit air guns in the communities around any known eagle nesting area.

He added that the local villagers in the area relayed to PEF that they heard a gunshot prior to the report that the eagle crash-landed on the forest floor.

On Jan. 24, a team of ophthalmologists from the Southern Philippines Medical Center examined the right eye of the rescued eagle and found out that it sustained blunt force trauma.

Dr. Janin Lou Billano, one of the ophthalmologists who examined the raptor, said the severity of the injury makes it unfit to be released back to the wild.

Its injury could also affect its hunting abilities, according to one of PEF’s biologists.

Dr. Bayani Vandenbroeck, a volunteer veterinarian for the PEF, examined the eagle, which was later named as Lipadas, upon its rescue on the same day.

Vandenbroeck said the examination and X-rays of the eyes suggest that “it was blunt force trauma to the right side of the head, particularly to the eye and bones around the right eye, that caused the injury to the right eye and associated bones around it.”

In a written report, PEF said they have been tracking Lipadas since October 2022 following reports that the eagle crash-landed on the forest floor.

The report quoted Datu Mariano Daug as saying that the locals attempted to go near the eagle on October 4, 2022 but it suddenly flew and perched on a nearby tree.

“The place where they saw the eaglet is a known Philippine Eagle nesting territory. The territory was first discovered in 2018 and a post-fledged young was spotted together with its eagle parents. Since then, the site has been monitored with the help of the Bagobo-Klata and BagoboTagabawa Bantay Bukid Volunteers from Davao City,” the report read.

Rowell Taraya, PEF’s senior biologist, said the eagle was rescued about 500 meters away from the nearest indigenous peoples community.

The report also noted: “Though the young eagle is still capable of flying, its infected eye prevents it from going to farther areas.”

To keep the eagle from starving, a team of PEF biologists conducted a supplemental feeding with a live rabbit in November 2023 after it was observed doing frequent “food begging” calls, an infantile behavior typical of parentdependent young.

“The bird, which is estimated to be already nearly two years old, should have left its parent’s territory. At such an age, healthy eaglets in the wild are fully independent and would have dispersed away from their parents’ territory. However, perhaps due to its eye injury, it remained dependent on its parents for nourishment,” the report further read.

Ibañez further explained that juvenile eagles are the most vulnerable because they are still confined within the nesting area. “That’s why most of our rescued eagles are very young.”

The rescued eagle is now at the isolation area of the Philippine Eagle Center in Barangay Malagos of this city.

Lipadas will join 34 other eagles in captivity and will be utilized in the breeding program.

PEF said there are about 400 pairs of Philippine Eagles left in the wild. (MindaNews)