Endangered Philippine eagles could be moved to protect birds from bird flu

The Philippine Eagle Foundation said Monday it plans to move its center to a new, larger facility in that city to preserve critically endangered national birds from diseases and infections like avian flu.

Bird flu alert

Fears about avian influenza (AI) or bird flu prompted the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) to consider move his endangered eagles from their refuge to a more secure site.

“It only takes one case of this deadly virus at the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) to wipe out the species’ only captive breeding stock in the world,” PEF development manager Andi Baldonado said during a briefing. Monday press conference.

Baldonado mentioned an AI outbreak that occurred last month in the nearby town of Magsaysay, Davao del Sur, which is adjacent to the PEC plant in the province of Malagos.

“It’s only 90 kilometers southwest of the PEC, bringing the threat right to our doorstep and putting the 34 eagles in the PEC at risk of extinction,” she added.

“This represents a loss of 5% of the projected global population of this already critically endangered species,” the report states, “it continued.

Not an easy task

Baldonado, however, acknowledged that moving the eagles to a safer and more suitable nesting area would be costly.

“Because this strategy is expensive and requires the involvement of the public and commercial sectors to be implemented, we want to gain his support during the Philippine Eagle Week (PEW),” she added.

Also Read: Reports Showed Once Extinct, Bald Eagle Population Quadrupled Since 2009

#AgiLaya

From June 4-13, PEF will commemorate “#AgiLaya: Enduring Freedom for the Philippine Eagle” with SM Lanang Premier, Boysen Paints the Philippines and San Roque Power Corporation.

The celebration marks the 35th anniversary of the PEF.

An exhibit commemorating the conservation achievements of the Philippine eagle will be on display at SM Lanang Premier Atrium from June 5-12.

The exhibit, which includes a late Pag-asa taxidermy specimen and forest patrol gear, shows how far eagle conservation has come.

Philippine Sky King

The Philippine eagle is one of the largest and most powerful raptors on the planet.

It was formerly known as monkey-eating eagle; according to local accounts, the raptor ate only monkeys. Other later research indicated that the species feeds on a variety of creatures ranging from mice and bats to pigs and monitor lizards, proving this to be inaccurate. They are monogamous and mate for life unless one partner dies. They have a two-year breeding cycle, with the male and female sharing parental care for 20 months.

The Philippine eagle prefers montane forests, which are usually found on high, rugged slopes. Its diet changes depending on the prey available on each island. The Philippine flying lemur is their favorite prey, although it also hunts palm civets, monkeys, snakes, monitor lizards, and occasionally other birds of prey.

Threatens

For the past 40 years, the small, rapidly declining population of eagles has been on the brink of extinction. As a result, it was recently designated as the national bird of the Philippines, which has helped enormously to raise awareness about the condition of the bird. Commercial timber extraction, growing agriculture, mining operations, unregulated hunting, pesticide buildup and catastrophic weather events, such as Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, are all threats.

Related article: Conservation or preservation: what’s the difference?

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