DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said those who will provide information can contact the DENR, Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF), or local law enforcement agencies.
Advertisement
“No one has been arrested yet, days after workers of the Philippine Eagle Foundation found Pamana rotting, quite far from the place where she was released to live in the wildlife reserve of Mount Hamiguitan [in Mindanao] on June 12”, PEF Executive Director Joseph Salvador told Gulf News.
Killing critically endangered Philippine species is punishable by as much as 12 years in jail and a wonderful of as much as a million pesos (£14,000).
Salvador said that based on initial investigation, Pamana sustained a gunshot wound on her right breast.
The eagle, which had returned to the wild two months ago, had spent three years being nursed back to health after being wounded by gunshots.
Mt. Hamiguitan was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in June 2014. “Despite the declaration as a world heritage site of Mt. Hamiguitan, the site where Pamana was released, we still do not have enough manpower to secure an area of such globally important status”.
Jose Lechoncito of the Wildlife Section of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources 11 said that Pamana’s global positioning system (GPS) transmitter went into “mortality mode” on August 10.
“Our forests are still fast disappearing due government policies and programs which allow ecologically destructive projects such as large-scale mining, commercial logging, and agri-industrial plantations”.
“Eagles that were turned over to the Philippine Eagle Center in recent years either had gunshot wounds or were trapped illegally in the wild”, said the group’s website.
“In Panalipdan’s report, Philyoubang’s operations have damaged second growth trees and other vegetation in Sitio Sopsopon, Brgy”.
Advertisement
The eagle was found dead in a southern Philippine forest on Sunday on a mountain range in Southern Davao Oriental province. “If we cannot protect wildlife in what we dare call protected areas, what kind of protection are we providing?”
