A Philippine eagle named “Pag-asa” (hope), the first to be bred and hatched in captivity, is resting inside an inclosure at the Philiippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) center in Davao City, in southern island of Mindanao in this February 17, 2016 photo. (INQUIRER.NET)
DAVAO CITY — Surprisingly loud chirps accompany a clumsy flurry of tiny wings as a wispy-haired chick breaks through its shell, its birth offering a rare cause for celebration in the struggle to save the Philippine eagle from extinction.
Tropical rainforest destruction and relentless hunting have decimated the population of the majestic bird — one of the world’s biggest and most powerful — with just hundreds believed to be left in the wild.
A small band of conservationists at a tiny sanctuary on the fringes of Davao, the southern Philippines’ biggest city, is trying to ensure their survival by running the world’s only breeding programme for the eagles and by rehabilitating the wounded.
“The center serves basically as insurance, or a Noah’s Ark so to speak, for the species,” Philippine Eagle Foundation Executive Director Dennis Salvador told AFP on a recent visit.
“But it certainly doesn’t substitute for a population in the wild.”
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