RP eagle gets new chance at freedom in new ‘home’

A 29-year old female Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) gets a new chance at freedom after she was released to her “enhanced and improved" home at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said the eagle, “Girlie," was released to mark the official launch of the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB). Acting Environment Secretary Eleazar Quinto said the renovation of Girlie’s enclosure was a symbolic expression of the need to rehabilitate the species’ deteriorating natural habitat. “The eagle is endangered and vanishing, found only in Philippine forest. They were thought to be almost extinct except for a few that have been discovered in Mindanao. The massive destruction of the Philippine forests, the habitat of the Philippine Eagle, has also brought about its destruction," Quinto said in an article on the DENR Web site. The Philippine Eagle is found only in the Philippines, particularly in Luzon (Sierra Madre Ranges and Cordillera Region), Samar, Leyte and Mindanao. It was declared an endangered species in 1965. An estimated 400 pairs of Philippine eagles are left in the wild today, according to the DENR. Hunting and killing of Philippine Eagle is punishable under the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act (R.A. 9147) with penalties or fines up to P1 million and imprisonment of up to 12 years. In July 1995, then President Fidel Ramos declared the Philippine eagle the national bird and considered it an endangered species because of its rapidly declining population Present in the symbolic event was Kim Atienza, the newly appointed IYB 2010 ambassador who is also the son of former Environment Secretary Lito Atienza. He was tapped to campaign for biodiversity conservation. Girlie was transferred to the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center for public education and appreciation in June 2009. She had been injured and in "sorry condition" when confiscated and brought to the Philippine Eagle Foundation in Davao City in 1982. - KBK, GMANews.TV