`
DAVAO CITY—There’s hope in the air after scientists and conservationists pulled through this week a successful, albeit difficult, operation: transferring the first batch of seven critically endangered Philippine Eagles (Pithecophaga jefferyi) to a new breeding facility here, a place more remote but at lower risk from disease, noise, injury and human encroachments.
The move, scientists said, will give the birds more protection, a better home to thrive, and a better chance to successfully produce more offspring that can be released in the wild.
The new facility, named the National Bird Breeding Sanctuary (NBBS), marks a milestone for the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF), which celebrated its 37 years in eagle research and conservation on February 13, 2024—the same day seven Philippine Eagles were transferred from their old breeding facility.
In a statement, PEF explained that the move from the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) in Malagos to the new breeding facility in Eden, Toril, Davao City, is the only recourse against two main threats: the Avian Flu and the changing crowded landscape around the PEC.
The NBBS facility will be off-limits to tourists, with access granted only to researchers, selected PEF personnel, and animal keepers.
“The new facility will be the first of its kind and we are hopeful that this will hasten our breeding program with more success. The facility with a better buffer zone will help in securing the eagles to guard against bird flu. As you know, that particular viral disease can wipe out entire populations of captive birds. That has been the case in many areas, in many countries,” said Dennis I. Salvador, Executive Director of PEF who had been lobbying for the project for more than a decade.
Salvador added that the facility will help isolate all the captive-breeding stock away from potential sources of diseases and environmental pollutants. It will also help PEF explore and experiment with other breeding and rearing techniques to bolster future reintroduction and restocking trials, including experimental chick-rearing by natural eagle pairs.
“This project has been in the works for a long time; we’ve submitted the proposal to the city government for the Risk Management Master Plan in 2009. In 2019, when we loaned a couple of eagles to Singapore in a breeding loan agreement, and with the advent of bird flu in Mindanao, we had to accelerate the move to relocate the breeding birds elsewhere because, in consultation with the Davao City government, they cannot control development in Malagos,” said Salvador.
Defense from emerging threats to eagles
Dr. Jayson Ibañez, PEF Director of Operations, clarified that the current center in Malagos lacks a buffer against noise, causing stress for the breeding birds, and is susceptible to diseases that could potentially contaminate all birds in the PEC.
“We are quite excited about the transfer of the first batch of eagles because the new facility is a huge leap from our existing breeding facility in Malagos, which is surrounded by farmlands, cornlands, and banana plantations, that’s on the half side of the facility. These make the facility vulnerable to threats such as the Avian Flu, other exotic diseases, noises that stress the birds, encroachments, and even harmful pesticides that are being used in those farms,” said Ibañez.
Ibañez said PEF tried to negotiate for the buffer, i.e., for the local government unit of Davao to install the buffer through a policy, specifically to reclassify the zoning for that particular area. Unfortunately, the LGU couldn’t implement and impose such since those are private properties and the land classification for that area is commercial agriculture.
The PEF also identified problems emerging from noise coming from neighboring houses and even resorts that create stressful environments for the breeding pairs, making them unable to mate.
“Aside from the threat of Avian Flu, we also have other diseases such as Newcastle’s disease from chickens. We also have a case before where one of our eagles died from trichomoniasis, which is common with feral pigeons and doves, and then you also have aspergillosis, which is a devastating respiratory disease affecting raptors from fungal spores,” said Ibañez.
Ibañez pointed out that with the new center far from communities and noise, the eagles won’t be exposed to stress, making them healthier and more able to resist diseases like aspergillosis as it takes advantage of stressed birds with weakened immune systems.
In a project briefer, PEF stated that Philippine eagle copulation activities are extremely delicate. The slightest disturbance could cause them to stop and fixate on the source of the disturbance immediately. Activities in adjacent farm lots disrupt the Philippine eagle pairs’ breeding activities.
“Without the productivity of our natural pairs in breeding, we lose the potential hatchlings that could be released into the wild,” said the briefer.
Safer, bigger, quieter
Data from the PEF indicates that the new breeding facility is situated within the 105-hectare reservation of the city government at the foot of Mount Apo, known as the Eden Tourism Reservation Area. This location boasts an elevation of 1000-1200 meters, providing a colder climate and minimal human settlement, similar to the Philippine Eagle’s natural nesting sites.
“The city government has tenure ownership of the area; through a usufruct agreement, they would lend a total of 13.46 hectares to PEF for the facility. The big advantage is that we now have an 8.16-hectare buffer zone of forest around the facility, which is missing in the Philippine Eagle Center in Malagos,” said Ibañez.
Out of the total 13.46 hectares, 5.3 hectares will be designated for the core facility, which will house the cages, personnel chambers, laboratory, and other building structures.
“The standard cage dimension is 30 by 30 by 40 feet. So it’s the same standard cage design, but I think the major difference is that we’re now doing conservation breeding in a relatively isolated area with the right amount of forest buffer, free from the threats of exotic diseases, noises, an area that’s not open to the public, and an area that’s within the natural habitat of the Philippine Eagle. The facility sits at the boundary of two wild Philippine Eagle territories that are within the Mount Apo range,” said Ibañez.
International cooperation
TEREZA ZAHÁLKOVÁ, an Avian Veterinarian at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague from the Czech Republic, said the PEF’s efforts are very commendable and that the international community shares the aspiration and hope for the new breeding facility to help in the conservation effort.
“I think the new facility will help a lot, the facility looks really safe, and not many people around; the temperature and the climate conditions are very good there for the eagles compared to the PEC in Malagos, and I think this is one of the most important projects made for successful breeding in the future,” said Zahálková.
Zahálková, who has been in the Philippines for the third time, volunteered with the PEF for six weeks while working on her post-graduate studies with Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, working on her research on artificial insemination for captive breeding of species.
Zahálková revealed that her research is also in cooperation with Liberec Zoo, a conservation breeding facility for the threatened raptors tagged by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and has been involved in many field conservation projects around the world.
“Liberec Zoo will be providing some incubators for the National Bird Breeding Sanctuary, which will help in the incubation of the eagle’s eggs,” said Zahálková.
Remote video monitoring
John Howe, Executive Director of Raptor Rescue Project (RRP) based in Iowa, USA, who traveled to Davao City to be part of the event as PEF’s project partner, donated three 4K resolution CCTV cameras. He expressed his enthusiasm for the new facility.
“We’re proud to be partnering with the PEF. It’s an amazing opportunity to help preserve and make sure that the Philippine Eagle survives into the future forever. The live cams are really a great opportunity to use with this research, and then also the exciting part about it is going to be that the public, the Philippine people, and the world will get to see this amazing eagle on the website, YouTube,” said Howe.
Howe also emphasized that the facility’s capacity for research, utilizing remote video monitoring, is a positive step forward. This capability will contribute valuable data for future studies and may lead to projects aimed at implementing similar technology for monitoring Philippine eagle nests in the wild.
When people “get to see high-quality video and audio of amazing raptors like the Philippine Eagle, I think that is a critical connection to make. Other than the folks that live around the eagles—they’re the few that get to see them in their natural environment—it’s really exciting to watch, seeing the daily lives of the eagles and their antics and what they do and just the majesty of the birds. So, this is a stepping stone to that,” he said.
The NBBS facility will employ a direct satellite uplink on the internet via Starlink, enabling remote monitoring of the cameras even through mobile phones.
Disabled, persecuted eagles can still breed
After conducting a physical check-up on the raptors hours before their transfer to the new facility, seven out of the planned eight were deemed fit for the journey, despite its inherent stress on the eagles. Among the birds, MVP Matatag and Ariella stand out as the PEC’s most productive, having survived human activities.
“Our productive pair right now, Philippine Eagles Ariella and MVP Matatag, are victims of human persecution. Ariella, for instance, is a victim of accidental trapping, when the eagle was rescued in Wao, Lanao del Sur, in 2006. Unfortunately, she lost her two talons after it was trapped in the nylon rope and ended up getting amputated as the blood was cut off too long from the affected talons, making the bird unable to effectively hunt in the wild,” said Ibañez.
“On the other hand, we have MVP Matatag, who we rescued in 2011 along the Mount Apo range. He was released [to the wild] back in 2014 after a successful rehabilitation, but was shot in 2016, which resulted in his right wing being permanently broken. Due to this injury, he can no longer be released back into the wild. Imagine being persecuted the second time around,” added Ibañez.
“This is a huge leap as we have two productive Philippine Eagles with the physical disability, who can still breed and can potentially raise young that will help increase our eagle population. We have high hopes as they are now in a brand-new breeding chamber which was constructed for them, which will not be disturbed by human activities, monitored 24/7 through a high-resolution CCTV camera,” said Ibañez.
Ibañez added that the eagles represent two different bloodlines, which is good for maintaining genetic diversity in their offspring. He pointed out that any offspring produced by the two raptors would be genetically fit and could potentially can be released back into the wild.
“They’ve produced one bird already and they kept on laying eggs. Unfortunately, the eggs are not hatching, but we think that once they are transferred to the new facility, it will help boost their productivity. At least this facility would be stress-free; it has the right temperature, the right humidity, the right type of habitat. They’re away from noises, human noises, it’s very isolated, I think that would boost their productivity,” added Ibañez.
Together with the two breeding pairs, the Philippine Eagles Balikatan—rescued in Surigao del Norte in August 2020 after being sold by trappers—and Bangsa Bae, rescued in Marogong, Lanao del Sur, in February 2022 after being shot and injured in the right wing, are in the process of pairing.
The most recent rescue, two-year-old Philippine Eagle Lipadas, which is blind in the right eye from a gunshot, was also transferred to the facility. It is considered by PEF as a promising mate to a female eagle when the eagle reaches reproductive age.
Philippine Eagles Dakila and Pinpin, which were both born and raised in the PEC, will contribute their offspring through cooperative artificial insemination (CAI).
Bigger facility with more eagles
THE seven eagles transferred on February 13 is part of the first phase which cost almost P9 million.
“We acknowledge that conservation is not cheap but we need to do it. Part of the cost is paying for manual labor to haul the construction materials of cement, sand, hollow blocks, pipes, and all the materials from the lowlands upslope to the breeding facility. It also includes of course the purchase of the cages, equipment, labor fees, and salaries of people who did the construction,” said Ibañez.
Ibañez acknowledged that a huge part of the project came from kind donors who helped raise enough money to transfer the initial number of birds.
PEF plans to transfer a total of 16 Philippine Eagles before the start of the next breeding season in July 2024, with the construction of an additional breeding chamber and more enclosures for the eagles.
“We plan more eagles to be transferred here in the future, as the total area of the facility has the potential of holding 35 Philippine Eagles. We’re still in the process of building. We need to build more; this is only part of the initial move to secure the breeding population. There are some more breeding birds left in Malagos, so we need to build more aviaries to get them over to NBBS,” said Salvador.
Passion is a driving force
PEF disclosed that the upkeep for the new facility for each eagle will cost between P200,000 and P250,000 a year, for the initial seven eagles, or an estimated P1.6 million to P2 million per year will be spent.
“Doing conservation is not cheap, but then again, we’re not counting here the extra time that’s being placed by the staff taking care of the animals. So this is not an 8 to 5 job, people are paid based on the usual rate, but they’re giving more than the usual eight working hours,” said Ibañez.
PEF credits most of the hours rendered by their staff and personnel to a passion for the conservation and protection of critically endangered species.
“If you monetize that, it’s basically a huge investment, but I think that’s what conservation really is about. We need to do it because it’s not just work but it’s also contributing to the well-being of our environment, which will benefit not only the few but the entire country,” said Ibañez.
Securing the facility
VIRGILIO I. SITOY, Barangay Chairman of Eden, said the barangay council is working on an ordinance to have domesticated animals prohibited near the breeding facility.
“We promised our support to protect our national birds. We are already working on the ordinance to keep the area from domesticated animals to keep the birds from getting contaminated by diseases. We’ve also ordered our barangay tanod to conduct patrols every weekend to check and keep our eagles safe,” said Sitoy.
The indigenous people’s tribe of Bagobo Tagabawa of Toril, where the forest area falls near their ancestral domain, has pledged to have 20 Bantay Bukid Forest Guards monitor the area. They will devote 10 days each month to patrol the forested portion near the facility to ensure that the buffer zone remains intact and free from intrusions and illegal utilization of forest products in the area.
PEF acknowledges the invaluable contributions of indigenous peoples’ groups across the country, who have played a significant role in successfully identifying Philippine Eagle nesting sites and rescuing injured birds of prey. Additionally, PEF recognizes their efforts in safeguarding nesting sites from intrusions and harm.
The PEF is taking care of 35 Philippine Eagles in captivity; 17 of the eagles were born and raised through their breeding research program; while the 18 eagles, or 51 percent of the captive population in the two research centers, were victims of human persecution—they were either shot or victims of trapping.
According to PEF, Philippine Eagle couples are territorial and need about 4,000 to 11,000 hectares of forest land to thrive in the wild and to sustain their nesting site and hatchling which the pair lay once every two years.
According to estimates by the PEF, only 392 Philippine Eagles remain in the wild. The decline in natural forest habitat due to logging, extensive expansion of plantations, mining activities encroaching into once-natural forest areas, and human settlements have significantly compromised the eagles’ ability to find suitable nesting sites.
Image credits: Erwin M. Mascariñas
Input your search keywords and press Enter.
