Farmer save RP eagle

ILAGAN, Isabela – A farmer here saved a Philippine eagle from possible capture by poachers last Wednesday, and turned over his accidental catch to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Charles Calucag, who facilitated the turnover, said the farmer discovered the eagle, also known as the monkey-eating eagle, wandering along the foothills of the town’s Sierra Madre mountains, seemingly weak due to hunger.

The turnover of the eagle, categorized as one of the country’s most endangered bird species, was in sharp contrast to reports from Mindanao about a farmer who is now facing charges for reportedly butchering a Philippine eagle.

Besides the Philippine eagle, the country’s national bird, other bird species endemic to the country like the serpent eagle have been saved in recent years in the mountain areas of Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Isabela, whose vast Sierra Madre mountain range hosts some of the world’s most critically endangered flora and fauna.

Meanwhile, the preservation of an eaglet at the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) in Davao City is assured for the next six years.

The Allied Botanical Corp. (ABC), the first Filipino-owned vegetable breeding company in the country, has committed a cash grant of P750,000 for food and veterinary care of the rare bird it has adopted until July 2, 2014.

It named its adopted eagle Bighani, after the Bighani Super Sweet Corn F1 that the company had bred.

ABC and PEF signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the adoption of the eagle.

ABC has its main office in Quezon City and a 23-hectare research complex in Tayug, Pangasinan.

The PEF is a private, non-stock, non-profit organization committed to accelerate the captive breeding program of the Philippine eagle to replenish the wild eagle population now threatened with extinction.

Under the MOA signed between the two parties, ABC has committed to support the PEF’s wildlife conservation initiatives, adopting the eagle Chick #22, which was hatched on Dec. 7, 2007.

The ABC committed P125,000 a year until 2014 to support the eagle to maturity.

The company is allowed to use photographs, footage and graphic icons of its adopted eagle for the firm’s internal and external communications programs.

In case of the early demise of the adopted bird, the PEF will replace it with another for the purpose of adoption continuity.

ABC expressed optimism that Bighani “will grow healthy and strong much like the sweet corn that it is named after.” - With Rudy A. Fernandez