Search for Phl eagle killer: DENR asks PNP help

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is seeking police assistance in tracking down the killer of a breeding adult female eagle that was shot on Mt. Apo in Davao over a week ago.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje directed regional officers to help in the search for the killer.

The Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) said the death of the mother eagle has left its seven-month-old eaglet fending for itself.

Jayson Ybañez, PEF research and conservation division head, told The STAR that the bird was tagged with radio and satellite GPS transmitters. It was released last April 9 in Barangay Sibulan.

Mt. Apo encompasses Davao City and the provinces of Davao del Sur, North Cotabato and Bukidnon. Its peak can be reached through the trails established in those areas.

DENR officials have sought police assistance to determine who shot the giant raptor.

Ybañez reported that the GPS satellite transmitter attached to the eagle showed that something happened to the bird.

“Based on the GPS readings on Aug. 11, we saw satellite readings clustered in an area at the base of Mt Apo, which was unusual,” Ybañez said.

A monitoring group composed of PEF biologists and indigenous Bagobo Tagabawa volunteer forest guards went to the area to track down the eagle on Aug. 14.

“The signals were in mortality mode. This normally happens when the radio unit is not moving, indicating either the transmitters fell out of the bird, or the bird itself died,” he said.

After nearly an hour, the group saw the “skeletonized carcass” of the eagle.

Ybañez said the bird apparently fell head first based on the position of its skeleton, with the left wing still hanging onto the ferns.

PEF veterinarian Ana Lascano inspected the bird and found it to have a crack in its keel bone.

“We are entertaining the possibility that the puncture was caused by a bullet, but we have yet to consult a ballistic expert to find out whether the puncture is caused by a bullet,” Lascano said.

Ybañez said a few days after the GPS satellite was tagged on the eagle, it was seen delivering a bat as food to her eaglet at the nest.

PEF executive director Dennis Salvador said the death of the adult eagle “is doubly unfortunate because it is also left motherless her seven-month old baby back at the nesting site in Sibulan.”

“With this, the job of feeding the young rests on the male eagle,” Salvador said.

He said they are monitoring the progress of the young eaglet, also equipped with a GPS satellite unit for monitoring.

“But as of the latest feedback last Saturday, the young has been begging noisily for food and has not been fed by the male since last Aug. 17. We have organized a supplemental feeding initiative with the Regional Eagle Watch Team of DENR Region XI and the Lumad forest guards and active provisions of food will begin next week to prevent the bird from dying from starvation,” Salvador said.

The death of the mother eagle is the second case this year. The first breeding female died on Mt. Kitanglad, Bukidnon.

The first was accidentally strangled to death by a native noose trap intended for wild pig and deer. It was caught by the noose while walking on the ground in search for food.

The monitoring of the adult eagles at Mt. Apo is possible through a grant from the Peregrine Fund, Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the DENR.

Nest ruined

Meanwhile, a nest set up to catch a rare Philippine eagle was ruined by unidentified individuals in Sibilant, Davao City, police said yesterday.

The nest, worth P70,000, was made to catch an eagle and tag it for better monitoring and study.

Police are now tracking down persons who broke down the nest last week.

Senior Police Officer 1 Norberto Dizon, said a staff of the PEF, which has been helping the DENR monitor eagles for years, set up the improvised nest last Aug. 14.

“Since it was already dark, the PEF staff decided to leave the nest and planned to return the next day, hoping it would catch an eagle. But they were surprised to see the nest ruined,” Dizon said.

He admitted having difficulty in investigating the incident since the nest was set up in a far-flung area in Sibulan, three to four hours walking distance from the police center.

Dizon denied reports that a mother eagle was found dead in Sitio Mariras, also in Sibulan. Cecille Suerte Felipe