DAVAO CITY – The Philippine Eagle Foundation has appealed to law enforcement agencies to intensify its campaign against loose firearms, including the custom-made marble guns, around the known nesting sites of the critically endangered Philippine Eagle here.
Dr. Jayson Ibañez, director of the PEF research and conservation program, aired the appeal following the rescue on January 2 of a one-eyed Philippine Eagle named “Lipadas,” believed to have been shot by a custom-made gun using marbles or “jolens” as bullets.
DR. Janin Lou Billano, an ophthalmologist, examines a rescued one-eyed Philippine Eagle at the Philippine Eagle Center in Malagos, Davao City, on Jan. 24, 2024. The eagle rescued last Jan. 2 was believed to have been shot using a marble gun sometime in October 2022. (Keith Bacongco)
Ibañez said it was the first time that they rescued a partially blind Philippine Eagle.
He urged local government officials and concerned government agencies, especially in towns or cities where there are known eagle nesting sites, to enforce existing laws for the protection of the national bird.
Ibañez added that the law enforcers should regulate possession of air guns in the communities around eagle nesting area.
Ibañez said residents heard a gunshot in the area prior to the discovery of the injured eagle.
“Since 2019, we have rescued about 16 Philippine Eagles. At least half of them have pellets on their bodies,” he said.
On January 24, a team of ophthalmologists from the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) here examined the right eye of the rescued eagle and found out that he had indeed blunt force trauma.
Dr. Janin Lou Billano, one of the ophthalmologists who examined the raptor, said since the eagle’s eye injury is so severe, the bird has lost its sight’s depth of perception.
Thus, Billano said, it is no longer fit to release the eagle back to the wild.
She admitted that it was the first time that they examined an animal using gears designed for humans.
Ibañez also bared that it was the first time that the PEF tapped the services of the eye specialists for a rescued eagle.
Due to its injury, it could also affect its hunting abilities, according to a PEF biologist.
Dr. Bayani Vandenbroeck, a volunteer veterinarian for the PEF, examined Lipadas upon its rescue.
Vandenbroeck said examination and X-rays of the eyes suggest that “it was blunt force trauma to the right side of the head, particularly to the eye and bones around the right eye, that caused the injury to the right eye and associated bones around it.”
"When it was brought in my clinic, I was delighted to see the eagle that it had no gunshot wounds in the body. At least for the first time, I’m examining an eagle that had no gunshot injury,” he said.
But after further examination, it turned out that injury was on eagle's head, Vandenbroeck added.
The PEF stated that they have been tracking Lipadas since October 2022 following reports that he crash-landed on the forest floor.
Datu Mariano Daug recounted that they attempted to go near the eagle on October 4, 2022 but it suddenly flew and perched on a nearby tree.
“The place where they saw the eaglet is a known Philippine Eagle nesting territory. The territory was first discovered in 2018 and a post-fledged young was spotted together with its eagle parents. Since then, the site has been monitored with the help of the Bagobo-Klata and Bagobo-Tagabawa Bantay Bukid Volunteers from Davao City,” the report added.
Rowell Taraya, PEF senior biologist, said the eagle was then about 10-months-old when they were able to document that he already had an eye injury.
Taraya added that the eagle was rescued about 500 meters away from the nearest Indigenous People’s community.
Though the young eagle is still capable of flying, his infected eye prevents him from going to farther areas, the PEF said.
A team of PEF biologists conducted supplemental feeding with a live rabbit in November 2023 after it was observed doing frequent “food begging” calls, an infantile behavior typical for parent-depending-young.
“The bird, which is estimated to be already nearly two years old, should have left its parent’s territory. At such age, healthy eaglets in the wild are fully independent and would have dispersed away from its parents’ territory. However, perhaps due to its eye injury, it remained dependent on its parents for nourishment,” the PEF said.
The rescued eagle is now in the isolation area of the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) in Barangay Malagos, this city.
Lipadas will join 34 other eagles in captivity and will be utilized in the breeding program.
According to the PEF, there are about 400 hundred pairs of Philippine Eagles left in the wild.
Vulnerable period
When eagles are still juvenile, Ibañez disclosed that this is their most vulnerable because they are still confined within the nesting area.
“That’s why most of our rescued eagles are very young,” he added.
In 1995, Ibañez said they rescued an eagle in Mount Apo that had several pellets all over the body.
Since 2019, he said the PEF recorded an average rescue of two to three eagles per year.
Data from PEF showed that they have rescued 16 eagles and seven of them were wounded by either air guns and marble guns.
Ibañez said that he is saddened by this recurring incident towards the critically endangered Philippine Eagle amid their extensive education campaign.
Despite these incidents, he emphasized the importance of having the indigenous communities as their partners in conservation work since they are the direct neighbors of the eagles.
Ibañez added that at least 80 percent of the known eagle territories are within the ancestral domains of IPs.
The PEF tapped the services of IPs to serve as forest guards.