Philippine Eagle Rescued

MAITUM, SARANGANI, January 4 (DENR) - The Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) Kiamba, Sarangani and Local Government Unit (LGU) of Maitum rescued one Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) at barangay Batian, Maitum Sarangani.

Park maintenance Foreman Edgar Q.  Calderon of CENRO Kiamba and Ms. Elizabeth Ramos and other representatives from LGU Maitum went to barangay Batian to rescue and recover the said Philippine Eagle at barangay  Batian last  January 3, 2017.

According to Mr. Calderon “the eagle was found by a certain Gibson Badal last January 2, 2017 at around 9:00 o’clock in the morning on his farm area and he noticed that the raptor was weak and not in a good condition”.

 On January 3 2017, at around 8:00 o’clock in the evening, a team from Philippine Eagle Foundation leaded by Jayson Ibanez (Director for Research and Conservation) arrived at CENRO Kiamba Office to conduct general check up of the raptor and found out that the said Eagle was severely dehydrated and overly thin and later travelled to Davao City for further examination.

At around 2:00 o’clock in the morning, January 4, 2017, the team arrived at Isaac T. Robillo Memorial Hospital for the x-ray of the raptor and turned out that it has an embedded pellet on the body particularly on the left groined. It was also examine by the veterinarian of Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) and found out that it has no entry wounds, the veterinarian gives some fluids to the raptor to address the dehydration and shots of vitamins and antibiotics.

 “We’re optimistic na okay yung bird in general, ok yung health niya and then if its cleared by our veterinarian for release, ibabalik natin siya doon sa kanyang territory” Director Ibanez said.

“ We’re quite excited about this because this would become the entry point, it would became the start of a systematic Philippine Eagle conservation program within Maitum and also across the mountain range Mount Busa, this is really something exciting, the Philippine Eagle Foundation, we’ve discovered pairs before but because of lack of resources hindi rin naka install ng isang strong conservation program, we’re very excited hopefully this would be right opportunity to do with, to the local government units, with the DENR and the indigenous communities” he added.

The rescued Philippine eagle was given an initial name as “Maitum”

The Philippine Eagle also known as the monkey eating eagle or great Philippines eagle, endemic to the forest in the Philippines and listed as critically endangered and protected under R.A. 9147 also known as “Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection act of 2001”. MCPerales/IO Designate – Photos By: EQCalderon.