DENR takes custody of endangered eagle
DENR offcials spreadeagled a captured rare serpent eagle. Photo by Jani Arnaiz
Maasin City (13 January) — An eagle captured in the wild off the woods in barangay Combado here ended in the protective custody of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), when it was unable to fly upon release at the capitol sunken garden due to a slightly fractured wing.
Rudy Leonor, in-charge of wildlife at the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO)-Maasin, along with his buddy, Paul Calim, identified the bird as Serpent Eagle (scientific name: Spilornis holospilus), and its local name in the dialect is “Sikop.”
A Combadian wood gatherer by the name of Car-Car surrendered the bird to PIA yesterday afternoon, Sunday, January 10, but there was no specific information on the circumstances on how it was taken because this writer was out of the house when it was turned over.
PIA informed DENR-Cenro-Maasin about the find this morning, and so it was arranged that Leonor and Calim would fetch the eagle from this writer’s house to be set free in the capitol grounds.
But the bird would not let go, prompting a closer look at its feathers which revealed a slight break near the tip of its right wing.
When stretched end-to-end, the brown eagle’s wingspan measured about three feet long; it has sharp beak and claws in its feet that it uses to snatch small chicks, matched with a seemingly unblinking eyes.
It weighs approximately one kilo, although it looked weak for not having eaten at the moment.
Aside from little chickens, the Serpent Eagle likes to eat fish and meat, Leonor and Calim said.
Leonor said there are only about fifty surviving Serpent Eagles in the wild roaming around the forested mountains of the province, and this is fast losing to extinction, making this specie an endangered one.
For now the captured eagle will be taken care of by CENRO-Maasin and will be released as soon as it will be able to fly.
Leonor said this was the first time their office will take care of an eagle, since most of the eagles caught in the past that were reported to them were simply released back to their wild habitat. (PIA-Southern Leyte)
