DAVAO CITY – A city councilor has vowed to take bold steps to ensure the protection of the critically endangered Philippine Eagle as well as other wildlife species in the remaining forests here.
DR. Reesha Rona Datukon, an ophthalmologist, examines a rescued one-eye blind Philippine Eagle at the Philippine Eagle Center in Malagos, Davao City on Wednesday, January 24, 2025. (Keith Bacongco)
In an interview, Councilor Temujin “Tek” Ocampo said he will study the possibility of crafting a resolution to back the conservation efforts of the Philippine Eagle Foundation.
Ocampo, chairman of the city council committee on environment and natural resources, added he will also raise the possibility of requiring the registration of air guns especially around the known nesting sites of the Philippine Eagle.
“So that if something will happen again to our Philippine Eagles or even to other wildlife species, it can help in the investigation. And it is easy for us to monitor who are air gun owners in the area,” he said.
The PEF said there are four pairs of eagles in the hinterlands of Marilog and Toril Districts which are their known nesting sites.
Davao City Police Office spokesperson Police Capt. Hazel Tuazon assured that she will discuss the issue with their operations director, adding that they could possibly confiscate airsoft guns in the area.
Tuazon said that they have an ongoing campaign against loose firearms. But she has yet to check if air guns are covered in the campaign.
“Maybe if the city government can legislate an ordinance to ban the air guns and even the jolen guns around the nesting sites of the eagles, that would be a great help to our officers in confiscating or regulating these weapons for the protection of the eagles and other wildlife species,” she said.
Tuazon said that barangay officials play an important role in monitoring air gun owners.
She added that police and the PEF can tap barangay officials in the campaign against these guns.
Dr. Jayson Ibañez, PEF director for research and conservation, 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.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2024/1/25/pef-rescues-injured-ph-eagle-in-davao
Ibañez issued 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. 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.”
From 2019 to date, the PEF has rescued 16 eagles from the wild. Seven of these eagles had pellets on their bodies or injuries due to jolen guns.
Aside from Lipadas, the PEF has also rescued an eagle in Barangay Sibulan, also in Toril District, due to an injury.
It was later found out that an air gun pellet was stuck inside its left nostril.
According to the PEF, there are about 400 hundred pairs of Philippine Eagles left in the wild.