Pamana’s remains as they were found on the forest floor, August 16.
Photo: Philippine Eagle Foundation/AFP

Philippines: Rare Philippine Eagle killed by unknown perpetrators
19th August 2015;

Just two months after it was released back into the wild, a rare Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) was found killed in Mt. Hamiguitan, Davao Oriental, a UNESCO-recognized wildlife sanctuary.

The Eagle, named “Pamana”, was rescued as a young eaglet in 2012 in Iligan City, where she was found injured with two gunshot wounds, one each on her left breast and left wing.

Experts from the Philippine Eagle Foundation in Davao City, where she was brought for treatment, believed that poachers targeted the bird for her talons, which could fetch up to $200 a pair in the black market.

Pamana made a full recovery and was released back into the wild on Independence Day, June 12, only to be found dead with a gunshot wound to its chest last August 16.

The raptor’s remains were found on the forest floor last weekend with a gunshot wound on its right breast, the foundation said.

Other body parts of an Eagle, including its head, feathers and wings, are also valued by collectors.

Pamana was the 30th Philippine Eagle to be found dead or wounded out of an estimated population of just 400 pairs in the wild, which reside mainly on the large southern island of Mindanao, its executive director Joseph Salvador said.

“Unfortunately, one person with a gun thinks he can shoot anything,” Salvador told AFP, adding no one has been arrested in the latest incident.

“The potential to teach people the importance of the Eagles to wildlife and biodiversity has been compromised.”

Famed for its elongated nape feathers that form into a shaggy crest, the Philippine Eagle, one of the world’s largest, grows up to a metre (3.3 feet) long with a two-metre wingspan.

Authorities hope that a radio transmitter attached to Pamana for tracking purposes will reveal more clues as to the exact location and possible circumstances of its killing.

Philippine Eagles kill Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and other smaller animals for food and need vast tracts of forest as hunting grounds, routinely driving away rivals from their territory.

Gunshots accounted for nine out of every 10 Philippine Eagle casualties recorded by the foundation over seven years.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the Philippine Eagle as “Critically Endangered,” facing severe habitat loss and an extreme fluctuating population.

Source: GMA News Online