Even if the number of Philippine eagles keeps increasing but if their habitat is being destroyed continuously, they will always be threatened, according to a top official of the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF).
“The forest is its only habitat,” points out Dennis I. Salvador, PEF executive director. “Without the forest, the species cannot survive over the long term.”
The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations claims that a pair of Philippine eagle needs at least 7,000 to 13,000 hectares of forest as a nesting territory.
The PEF manages the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) in Malagos, Calinan District, some 30 kilometers northwest from downtown Davao. An 8.4-hectare area, located at the rolling foothills of Mount Apo – the country’s highest peak – the center operates as a conservation breeding facility for the endangered eagle and other birds of prey.
About 31 Philippine eagles are currently being housed at the center. Some of these eagles have been rescued while there are those that were hatched in the facility through the captive breeding program.
The center was organized in 1987 and since then, it has generated significant milestone in the country’s wildlife conservation. “Since 1992, PEC has produced 28 Philippine eaglets through natural pairing and cooperative artificial insemination,” said the briefer given to Filipino journalists who visited the place during the Philippine Eagle Week (June 4-10).
“If time will come that we have enough stocks already, where shall we release them?” asked Salvador. “And how will the eagles sighted in the wild survive if factors like deforestation continue to haunt them?”
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through its line agency, Forest Management Bureau, reported that each year the country losses almost 47,000 hectares of forest cover.
“Deforestation is terrible,” Salvador deplored. “The Philippine eagle has become a critically endangered species because forest destruction has made it lose its natural habitat.”
Some studies have shown that only 32.6% of the total forest cover remains from the original forest cover which the country had in the past century. “Small patches of forest may not be able to sustain the needs of the people and wildlife in the long run,” Salvador said. “What we need to do is to protect the large, contiguous forests and expand the smaller patches by rehabilitating the surrounding areas and developing forest corridors.”
The environment department said the country needs to rehabilitate 1.2 million hectares of deforested lands three years from now if it has to help the Philippine eagle and other endangered species to survive.
The PEC is the only of such kind in the Philippines. “By using the Philippine eagle as the flagship for conservation, we try to address a host of issues associated with the conservation and management of wildlife in the Philippine rainforest,” the briefer stated. “In addition, the eagle provides a powerful symbol for rallying support from the Filipino people.”
The Philippine eagle (scientific name: Pithecophaga jefferyi) is second only to the Madagascar sea eagle in rarity. In size, it beats the American bald eagle; it is the world’s second largest – after the Harpy eagle of Central and South America. “The Philippine eagle is the largest predator we have,” Salvador said.
Formerly known as the monkey-eating eagle, the name was changed to Philippine eagle in 1978 after it was learned that monkeys comprise an insignificant portion of its diet, which consists mainly of flying lemurs, squirrels, snakes, civets, hornbills, rodents and bats.
“With a wing span of nearly seven feet and a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour, the Philippine eagle can gracefully swoop down on an unsuspecting monkey and carry it off without breaking flight,” the PEF said.
In the past, Philippine eagles abound in the forests of Mount Apo and other parts of Mindanao. They can also be seen flying over in the forests of Sierra Madre in Luzon and Samar and Leyte in the Visayas.
Today, only about 400 pairs survived in the wild. So much so that the Switzerland-based International Union for Conservation of Nature declared Philippine eagle as critically endangered.
But even then, it didn’t deter then President Fidel V. Ramos to sign Proclamation No. 615 in July 1995 naming the Philippine eagle as the country’s national bird. He said the eagle is found only in the Philippines and as such becomes a source of national pride.
Ramos also said that “if the national bird dies, so will all the country’s efforts at conserving its natural resources and treasures.”
But more importantly, the Philippine eagle serves as the best biological indicator of the survival rate of the country’s forest cover. The fewer the forests, the fewer the birds.
But deforestation is not the only problem that threatens the survival of the Philippine eagle and other birds. Hunting has also been blamed as a major culprit. “Some do it because of ignorance but most, I believe, because of arrogance,” Salvador said. “Some people believe they can get away with it so they do it. This of course it aggravated by poor enforcement of the law and clear lack of political will.”
And then, there’s climate change. “Rapid climate change also directly affects the survival rate of the remaining Philippine eagles,” said Haribon, another conservation organization. “It severely strikes avifaunal diversity in the Philippines, where almost 30% of bird species are endemic.”
Birdlife International warns that over the next 40 years, the habitats restricted range birds will continue to be unsuitable due to climate change, attributing this problem to drastic shifts in temperature and rainfall. “Many species may not survive under these harsh conditions,” it said.
Efforts to save
the Philippine eagle was started way back 1965 by Jesus A.
Alvarez, then director of the autonomous Parks and Wildlife Office, and
Dioscoro S. Rabor, another founding father of Philippine conservation
effort.
From 1969 to 1972, America’s famed aviator Charles Lindbergh spearheaded a
drive to save the bird, which he called as the “noblest flier.” Within this
time frame, several helpful laws were passed.
Actually, there are 33 Philippine eagles that are taken cared of at the PEC. The two eagles – named Sambisig, 17 and Geothermica, 15 – are being loaned out to the Singapore through Wildlife Reserves Singapore. Both were flown out of the county last June 4.
“Sending the pair of Philippine eagles to Singapore acts as a biosecurity measure to ensure the survival of the species as a fallback population in the event of catastrophic events like disease outbreaks or extreme natural calamities taking place in their Philippine habitats,” explained Roy A. Cimatu, the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Salvador pinpointed that that “loan program” only represents a small part of a comprehensive population management plan on the endangered species. “Given current threats, more intensive action on protection and law enforcement need to take place in-country,” he said.
According to Salvador, the PEF employs a holistic conservation approach, working with different government agencies, local government units, private organizations and indigenous communities living near eagle territories to implement different conservation strategies in saving the country’s bird icon.
At the PEC, its programs include field research, community-based initiatives, captive breeding and conservation education. “These programs are integrated and permit a holistic approach to conservation and management of biological diversity,” said Carla Joy E. Salvacion, the conservation education administrator.
The eagle has to be saved before it joins the dodo into extinction. “We should do our best to save this wonderful creature because when it is gone, it is gone from the list of animals in the world,” Dr. Rabor reminded.
