Wednesday, August 19, 2015

PAMANA shot dead after two months


  1. Eagle “Pamana” bears the bloodline of eagles in the Lanao Del Norte region which is 245 km northwest of Hamiguitan. 
  2. If Pamana survives and breeds with a resident bird, bloodlines would mix which is generally good for the eagle population, as wildlife genetics would predict.
  3. Philippine eagle “Pamana” was “soft-released” through “hacking” method which is a procedure that involves caging the bird at the release site for at least two week prior to setting it free so that she would be adjusted or acclimatized to local conditions.
  4. The lowland forests of Mt. Hamiguitan in San Isidro, Davao Oriental would have been Pamana’s new home. Famous for its dwarf or “bonsai” forests, Hamiguitan is a Global Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) that sits on a peninsula separating Davao Gulf and the Pacific Ocean. Because of its outstanding universal value as habitat for unique biodiversity, it is both a UNESCO World and an ASEAN Heritage Site.
  5. The Philippine Eagle is classified as "critically-endangered" or close to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.Only found in the Philippines, only around 400 pairs are left in the wild.
  6. PEF released Pamana into the wild only in June 12,  to commemorate the 117th celebration of Philippine Independence Day. 
  7. This is not the first time Pamana has suffered from human-inflicted injuries. Pamana was rescued three years ago as an eaglet surviving two gunshot wounds. She was found in a mountain range of Gabunan in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte in 2012.
  8. The eagle, named "Pamana (Legacy)" by conservationists, was found with a bullet hole in her right breast that shattered her left shoulder, said Dennis Salvador, Executive Director of the Philippine Eagle Foundation.
  9. Scientists from PEF found her body on August 16 after the tracker they had outfitted her with went into mortality mode – a signal that she was dead.
  10. She was around 3 years old at the time of her death and the site where she was found, Mount Hamiguitan Range, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Davao Oriental, was only one kilometer from where they had released her.
  11. Her body was already decomposing when they found it near a creek below thick forests just one kilometer away from her new forest home at Sitio Tomalite in San Isidro, Davao Oriental just this Sunday, August 16.
  12. The death of a Philippine eagle (scientific name Pithecophaga jefferyi) in Mount Hamiguitan comes as a shock because it is one of the country’s protected areas. 
Sources:

http://www.philippineeaglefoundation.org/article/80/flight-to-freedom-releasing-philippine-eagle-pamana-to-her-new-forest-home
http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/environment/103080-philippine-eagle-pamana-shot-mount-hamiguitan
http://www.wheninmanila.com/philippine-eagle-pamana-shot-dead-on-chest/
http://cnnphilippines.com/regional/2015/08/19/Pamana-Philippine-eagle-body-denr.html