Samar’s wounded eagle recuperates from surgery

TACLOBAN CITY – The Philippine eagle has been recuperating well since it underwent surgery on July 4 to remove a pellet from his body.

“The bird is okay now. We’ve just fed it and it’s now perched on a tree branch put inside its cage [inside the Department of Environment and Natural Resources regional office compound],” said Dr. Steven Toledo, a veterinarian of the DENR’s Protectected Areas and Wildlife Bureau based in Quezon City.

“If its recovery continues, it will be released in two to three weeks at the same place where it was found and will be able to reproduce [in the wild],” he added.

Toledo said they christened the eagle “Calbiga,” the name of the town where it was found.

The eagle was hit by a home-made shotgun in the upper breast. The pellet entered its body and settled below its armpit in the left wing.

It was weak from loss of blood when found on the ground in the mountain village of Buluan in Calbiga, Samar on June 23 by Pastor Abanag of that village.

Toledo and Ariel de Dios, wildlife caretaker of the National Wildlife Rescue Center, were sent to Tacloban City after Arnulito Viojan, team leader of the Regional Eagle Watch Team (REWT), sought their assistance to retrieve the wounded eagle in Calbiga.

Viojan said it was not known who shot the bird and where it was shot. “They told us that they found the eagle bleeding,” he said.

Calbiga Mayor Mechor Nacario, who was then in Manila, talked to some people in Calbiga and Buluan by cellular phone for the immediate turn over of the bird to the DENR.

Viojan said Nacario persuaded Abanag to surrender the eagle after the bird’s finder seemed to have changed his mind and decided to keep the bird for himself.

The bird was finally turned over to the DENR team, which comprised of Viojan, Toledo and animal handler De Dios on July 1.

From Calibiga, the team brought the eagle to the Bethany Hospital in Tacloban to have it X-rayed before it was confined in a cage at the DENR regional office.

On the 12th day of its captivity, the eagle underwent surgery at the regional animal disease diagnostic laboratory in Barangay Diit, Tacloban City, Leyte.

The operation went on smoothly but the bird was not fed on that day except for an antibiotic.

The eagle was later given carabao meat and a pig liver.

There are reportedly only 180-500 Philippine Eagles in the country.