24th February 2016;
A Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) was shot and wounded in Barangay Tambobong in Baguio District, Davao City last Sunday (Feb. 21).
It was identified as Matatag, the Eagle which underwent rehabilitation at the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) in Davao City and was released to the wild in December 2014.
The suspects Tiburcio Aparecio and his younger brother Rolando Aparecio surrendered to the police. They are currently detained at the Baguio Police Precinct.
The brothers will be held liable for violation of Administrative Order 235 series of 1970 which prohibits the wounding, taking, selling/ exporting, processing and killing of the Philippine Eagle and Republic Act 9147 or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act.
The police is also charging them for violation of the Commission on Elections gun ban as the shooter had use 22. caliber rifle which was recovered by the police.
Tiburcio initially surrendered to the police, however his brother Rolando later owned up to the crime.
Matatag meanwhile survived the shooting which hit his left wing, the Eagle is now being treated at the PEC.
The Eagle was formerly a caged bird turned over in 2011 to the Philippine Eagle Foundation, he was known for being contemptuous and aggressive towards his handlers, a sign that he was meant for the wild.
In late 2014 he was released in the ancestral forests of the Obu Manuvu indigenous people in Barangay Carmen, Davao City. In January this year PEF had monitored that Matatag has been moving away from his birth place and release site.
Scientists call this phase as a dispersal stage when Eagles already free from parental care wander away from their birth place. It begins at two-years old until the time when the sexually-mature Eagle pairs up with another Eagle of the opposite sex and establish their own territory.
Matatag had an attached radio transmitter on his back with indigenous forest guards monitoring his movements using radio telemetry.
Source: Philippine Information Agency
Monday Morgue 