Injured Philippine eagle found in Samar dies
TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—The remains of a Philippine eagle, which died Friday after being treated for injuries, was flown to Manila Monday afternoon for necropsy and taxidermy at a wildlife facility in Quezon City.
The eagle Calbiga, named after the town in Samar where it was found, died at 4:48 p.m. Friday.
Calbiga’s remains were first brought to the Regional Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory at Barangay Diit, Tacloban City for post-mortem and temporary safekeeping. On Monday afternoon, the remains were brought to Manila by plane.
Dr. Rizza Araceli F. Salinas, a veterinarian of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, fetched the eagle’s dead body for necropsy and taxidermy at the PAWB office in Diliman, Quezon City, according to George Guillermo, chief of the Protected Areas, Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Services at the DENR regional office.
Guillermo said the necropsy might determine the cause of the eagle’s death.
On June 23, three local farmers accidentally caught the injured eagle along a forest trail in the upland Buluan village. They turned over the raptor to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources a week later on July 1.
Upon its turnover, Calbiga was given a medical check-up and necessary medicines by Dr. Steven Toledo of PAWB, who first attended to the eagle. It was brought later to the Bethany Hospital in Tacloban City for radiography to check for any foreign materials in its body.
The X-ray result showed a pellet embedded in the bird’s left wing, which was operated on after two days with the help of local veterinarians from the RADDL and the Tacloban City Veterinarian Office.
The bird appeared to be alert and in good physical condition after the operation. Its wound in the middle of the upper breast seemed to have healed. It was observed to have stretched its wing when it was fed with a live prey.
However, Calbiga’s health later deteriorated. Blood, stool samples and nasal swabs were collected from the bird on August 5 and these were analyzed at the RADDL.
From August 4-10, antibiotic and antifungal medication, as well as iron and vitamin supplements, were administered to the bird, which hardly ate and was losing weight, according to the DENR.
After it refused to eat for two days, the bird was tube-fed with puréed liver and pork on August 11.
“We did our best to save the eagle. It is very regretful that the bird had died,” Guillermo said.
Calbiga was the first Philippine Eagle to be captured alive since the Regional Eagle Watch Team was created 18 years ago to protect and conserve the Philippine Eagle and other raptors in Eastern Visayas.
The firs Philippine Eagle was discovered in Samar Island exactly 115 years ago by John Whitehead, an English explorer and naturalist. On June 13, 1896, his servant Juan brought him the first specimen of the eagle.
The Philippine Eagle is endemic to the Philippines and could be found in eastern Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao.
Today, there are reportedly only 180-500 Philippine eagles in the country.
