A Philippine Eagle has survived three airgun pellets lodged inside her body. For a bird built to rule the canopy, it is a strangely undignified way to meet the human world.
The approximately five-year-old, presumed female eagle was rescued in Barangay Manobo, Magpet, on September 27.
A feature from the Philippine Eagle Foundation reports that she was weak but alert when she arrived for examination. X-rays revealed pellets near her right wing, right leg, and tail. Two were removed under local anesthesia. The third remains inside her, kept there to avoid further damage.
The eagle cannot say who shot her, or when. Her body, however, has kept the evidence.
The town of Magpet has seen this before. In 2013, a juvenile Philippine Eagle rescued in nearby Barangay Amabel died from a .22-caliber gunshot wound. Thirteen years later, another eagle from the same wider landscape has survived gunfire, carrying its evidence under the skin.
Yet the story is not entirely grim.
The rescue confirms that Philippine Eagles are still using this landscape, part of the greater Mt. Apo Key Biodiversity Area, a roughly 100,000-hectare forest that contains 10 ancient eagle nest sites. Nesting records near the rescue area date to 1983. The last confirmed nest there was recorded in 1990.
The forest, it seems, has not forgotten its eagles.
The eagles, scientifically referred to as Pithecophaga (Greek for Monkey eater) jefferyi, have not forgotten the forest, either.
That matters as conservationists work to protect and restore populations in their former habitats. An eagle does not recognize a farm boundary, a property line, or an argument over livestock. It simply flies where food and forest lead it. Sometimes that may include a pig. It should never include a target.
Releasing the critically endangered eagle into suitable habitat is only part of conservation. Keeping that habitat safe is the harder, more human task.
Trees can provide food, shelter, and nesting sites. They cannot stop an airgun.
People have to do that.
For this eagle, now called Magpet, survival is a second chance. For the forest, it is a reminder that having eagles return is one thing. Giving them a reason to stay is another.
