Butuan City – Experts are alarmed as attacks on the Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) continue to harm and threaten the critically endangered raptor with a new victim in the town of Pangantucan, a year after the rescue of a PHL eagle in San Fernando town of the same province.
“Amid our calls and the efforts made towards the protection and conservation of the Philippine’s national bird, it is heartbreaking that another Philippine eagle was rescued and then after examination our veterinarian, we found out that it had two air gun pellets lodged on the bird’s body after x-ray showed the pellets embedded above the bird’s right collar bone and right thigh,” said Dr Jayson Ibañez, Director for Operations of the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF).
A PEF report pointed out that the eagle was a victim of shooting and the third case of a Philippine eagle getting harmed by air-guns in the province of Bukidnon since the pandemic, expressing an alarm sighting that the eagle rescue is the 19th bird to be admitted at the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) for medical care since 2019.
On February 24, 2023, Philippine Eagle Sinabadan was rescued in San Fernando, Bukidnon with air-gun pellets in the chest, the thigh, and a permanent injury in the abdomen.
“The first case in Bukidnon was Philippine eagle Tagoyaman Fernando a rescued immature eagle in 2020 whose x-ray showed an Air Gun pellet lodged on its right wing, then we have Sinabadan last year and now this incident, the 9th victim of eagle shooting,” said Ibañez.
Ibañez reiterated that, “the situation is alarming that in nearly all of these cases, air-gun was the primary weapon used in shooting down the birds, which is technically not a firearm, and not regulated under the law (RA 10591).”
“This lack of regulation and prevailing treatment of air-guns as mere toys make them a very accessible tool for wildlife hunting and shooting, especially in the uplands where wildlife law enforcement is weak if not nearly non existing. Air-gun hunting is, therefore, not only a big threat to our national symbol, but also to other threatened wildlife in general,” he added.
Ibañez further added that an example would be if someone search the phrase “airgun wildlife hunting Philippines” on google, three sites featuring morbid videos of wild birds and wildlife hunted using air-guns are the top hits while certain social media groups celebrate such actions on wildlife as trophy posts indicating the extent to which air-gun hunting is tolerated in the country with impunity.
“But this has to change, we therefore reiterate our call for reforms from and stronger law enforcement by our Philippine National Police authorities to seriously stop the persecution of our imperiled wildlife,” he said.
Ibañez explained that there is no single solution to address local hunting, stating if the government also places the same resources and efforts it puts into combating illegal wildlife trade to addressing local wildlife hunting, then our eagles and its wildlife allies have a fighting chance.
“For instance, a similar inter-agency law enforcement group would enforce the laws against eagle and wildlife crimes (RA 6147 and 9147), the use of air guns, and improvised and illegal firearms during hunting (RA 10591),” said Ibañez.
The Rescue
The PEF report indicated that on the morning of February 24, 2024, a local resident of Sitio Balmar, Nabaliwa, Pangantucan, Bukidnon found the eagle trapped inside a vine thicket, unable to fly along the Kiulayon ridge which was later called Philippine eagle Kalatungan.
The resident, namely Dodong Watang, immediately called for help and the bird was promptly rescued by the indigenous people’s forest guard volunteers Datu Nonoy Nonay and Fermin Daculay from the Bantay sa Yutang Kabilin (BYK) association.
The eagle was then brought to the attention of Elpedio Suclatan, chairman of Nagkahiusang Manubung Manununod sa Yutang Kabilin (NAMAMAYUK) and then to Thieza Verdijo, Deputy Director of the Xavier Science Foundation who reached out to PEF who formed a rescue team from the PEC in Davao City.
On February 25, PEF Senior Animal Keeper Dominic Tadena, PEF Biologist Andrei Von Mariano Tirona, and Veterinary Consultant Dr. Sheen Erica Gadong, with the assistance of the Protected Area Superintendent Ner Doydoy of the Protected Area Management Office (PAMO) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) travelled to Pangantucan and immediately provided first aid to stabilized the bird’s condition.
In the medical report, it indicated that during the initial assessment during the rescue, that bird was bright, alert, and responsive during distant observation.
With a net weight of 3.45kg, supplements and fluid administered subcutaneously immediately after physical assessment. The eagle was immediately brought to Davao City for X-ray on the same day
After objects were observed during radiography, a surgery was immediately performed by the veterinarian team, which surgically removed two air gun pellets; one superficially embedded on the skin near the crop, and one on skin in the caudomedial area of the right femur.
Culture-Based Conservation in Action
Ibañez highlighted that the heroes amid the sad tale of the eagle’s rescue are the indigenous people (IP) of Pangantucan who immediately acted on the report together with partner Non-Government Organizations such as Xavier Science Foundation.
“If we look at the efforts we had, the rescue, the successful monitoring of pairs, and towards the protection of forest areas, it is our IP groups who were in the forefront in those endeavors. Teaching our IP and using their own indigenous knowledge to advance culture-based conservation has been an eye opener,” said Ibañez.
In the data provided by the PEF, all of the 16 PHL eagle pairs discovered in Bukidnon were made with the help of the IP communities, including two new territories discovered in the last 2 years, with the latest pair nesting site discovered in San Fernando Bukidnon.
Ibañez explained that the indigenous practices and the people who live within the forest areas are the best way to find solutions in creating partnerships towards conservation based on existing cultural practices of the IP communities and it has proven invaluable especially when there are reports of trapped and injured eagles and other wildlife in their areas.
“We in PEF, we helped train and empower IP forest guards in the hopes to ensure that the forest remained secured and protected. We hope that we can find ways to help communities with socio-economic enterprise through sustainable livelihood,” Ibañez concluded.