Killing of Philippine eagle sparks calls for tougher laws to save critically endangered bird
- Some 392 pairs live in the country’s forests that are also home to indigenous communities who rely on poaching to get by
The death of a Philippine eagle from a gunshot wound has sparked calls to intensify conservation efforts and pass new laws to protect the critically endangered species that increasingly come in the cross hairs of hunters.
The bird named “Mangayon”, estimated to be around four years old, died this week in a southern Philippine forest from sepsis and loss of blood after its left wing was clipped by a toy marble fired from an improvised airgun.
The dying raptor was found in an area previously unknown as a “nesting site”, indicating other eagles could also be there.
The incident resulted in an outpouring of grief on social media and at the Davao-based Philippine Eagle Foundation, which has rescued 19 injured birds since 2020.
Jayson Ibañez, the agency’s director for operations and chief scientist, described the Philippine eagle as wild and fierce, flying freely with the broadest wingspan of up to two metres, perching magnificently as the tallest standing forest eagle in the world.
An estimated 392 pairs live in the forested areas of Mindanao and on the islands of Samar, Leyte and Luzon. An untold number perished in the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan, according to Ibañez.
Ibañez said he became enamoured with this “majestic species” known as Pithecophaga jefferyi 28 years ago as a student biologist.
He explained that young eagles were the most vulnerable to shooting and hunting because “they are still immature” and ignorant of the danger humans could pose, and called for enhancing awareness among the indigenous communities to prevent the birds from becoming extinct.
Killing endangered species is punishable with 12 years in jail and a fine of 1 million pesos (US$17,119), but the law lacks teeth.
A man walked free after spending six months behind bars in a case pursued by the foundation that also caused it financial strain.
According to Ibañez, the problem of protecting eagles is complicated as the forests where they roam are part of the habitat of 14 indigenous communities who rely on poaching to get by.
“They have title to the land, but no money to manage these large areas of forests,” he said.
“The locals, the indigenous people, go out into the forest and hunt. And the non-discriminating [among them] use jolen [improvised] guns to shoot any animal they see like eagles, civets or monkeys for their meat content.”
The foundation has tied up with some of these communities and urged them to be caretakers of the eagle instead of hunters, but the agency lacks the resources to expand its work, which depends on grants and private donations.
Ibañez said community conservation efforts could succeed by fulfilling the basic needs of locals.
People took part in a project to protect a nesting site in Davao City’s Salaysay after the foundation installed a water system in the area.
“So we’ve produced that through philanthropy funding. And now they feel rather indebted and attached to the eagles because without the eagles, they won’t have a water system,” he said.
The foundation hopes to propose to Congress a National Bird Act which would, among others, automatically declare nesting sites as protected areas.
Ibañez said a pair of eagles only naturally produces one egg every two years, adding the birds are counted in pairs since they tend to remain monogamous and faithful to the same partner throughout their life.
Ibañez’s organisation, however, has successfully experimented with inducing a pair to produce two eggs a year.
When the female lays an egg, it is removed and incubated artificially. This induces the bird to lay another egg due to a natural process called “reclutching”.
But the method has drawbacks, as the young eagles are hatched artificially and fed by humans, making them think “the people were their parents or partners”.
“So once you release them back to the wild, they would automatically look for people” and this had happened in three instances, he said.
To avoid similar situations, the foundation has been raising funds for a new breeding facility where “the dream is for the parent eagles to take care of the young themselves”.
