Work to save PH eagles 

MANILA, Philippines — Even before the young Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) soared back to her home on Mt. Apo, hundreds of people were already tuned in to her takeoff.

Most of them were far from the actual jungles of Mindanao. Some were more than 1,000 kilometers away, in the urban jungles of Metro Manila, awaiting the eagle’s flight on their computer or cell phone screens.

The release in late July of the rescued raptor, named “Makilala Hiraya” by her carers, was the first time such a momentous event was broadcast live on Facebook by the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF), which works to give the critically endangered species a chance at survival.

With the community quarantine separating people and requiring them to stay home, the livestream offered a rare collective experience to watch the national bird boost that chance.

FIT TO FLY HIGH Adriano Oxales, animal keeper of the Philippine Eagle Foundation, holds the Philippine eagle named “Makilala Hiraya” for a standard medical checkup before the bird’s transfer to the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao City on June 8. After she was found healthy and clear of diseases, she was released on July 28, in time for World Nature Conservation Day. —PHOTO COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE EAGLE FOUNDATION

Learning opportunity

The mission to save the Philippine eagle, one of the rarest eagles in the world, has not stopped despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the “new normal,” eagle conservationists are turning to digital tools and the internet to keep at their arduous task.

Prepandemic engagements during eagle releases were focused only on concerned local government officials and indigenous communities living near or in the forest that the eagle considers its home, said PEF executive director Dennis Salvador.

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The new coronavirus has changed that. Strict health protocols now limit those who can come together at the site.

But this setback has opened another door—an eagle release as a learning opportunity for a wider audience and a source of inspiration during bleak times.

“With most people at home due to the lockdown, we saw that it was a good opportunity to allow people to take part and see firsthand the work that goes into releasing rescued eagles,” said Jayson Ibañez, the foundation’s director for research and conservation.

Their new approach did not come without technical glitches. After all, forests are not the ideal places to get the strongest internet connection. The result was a tad anticlimactic, as weak signals barred those tuned via Facebook livestream to see the actual moment when Makilala Hiraya left her bird kennel.

Thankfully, the power of social media proved stronger: A subsequent video of the eagle’s actual takeoff has gained over 3,000 likes and has been shared by more than 1,000 people at this writing.

Remote rehab

Ibañez said the videos of the national bird, seen as a symbol of rising above adversity, would hopefully help ease the people’s sorrows and fears over the uncertain future wrought by the pandemic.

Digital tools are now playing central roles in actual conservation work given the restrictions on the usual protocols in bringing rescued birds to the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao City.

Since the lockdown in March, the PEF has rescued four Philippine eagles. The number includes Makilala Hiraya, which crash-landed in a grassland in Makilala town, Cotabato province, in June, after being mobbed by a flock of large-billed crows.

Makilala town was only a three-hour drive from Davao City. But it was a different scenario for “Siocon,” which was found 625 km away in Zamboanga del Norte province at the height of the lockdown in April.

With strict travel bans across the country, Ibañez and his team, along with their partners from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Agriculture, began remotely rehabilitating Siocon back to health.

“It was the first time for us … We used Messenger video and phone conferencing,” he said.

In over a month, online checkups were done through photos and videos of Siocon that were exchanged by Ibañez’s team and the DENR regional office in the Zamboanga Peninsula, where the eagle stayed. Through the Messenger app, Ibañez sent extensive guides on proper restraint and care for the bird.

Weak Wi-Fi signals sometimes got in the way, but the telemedicine approach paid off. In mid-May, the PEF team made the 19-hour drive to Zamboanga, passing through 15 checkpoints across seven cities and provinces. With a GPS tracker attached, Siocon was finally released back into the wild.

Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1318842/work-to-save-ph-eagles-wont-stop-for-pandemic#ixzz6UbibIWSC
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