THE PHILIPPINE Eagle Foundation (PEF) will need P56 million to build a new center to protect its flock of eagles from Avian Flu and other threats due to increasing human activities around its current location in Davao City.
PEF Development Manager Andi Baldonado said the new site will still be within the city and the local government is providing a 50-hectare land.
“We are working with the city government of Davao to allow us to use land owned by the city in Barangay Eden. We are working on the release of the usufruct to allow us to use the facility for captive breeding and rescue rehabilitation center,” she said during the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Davao on Monday.
“We are still in the initial phase but we are grateful that the city government is supportive of this emergency plan,” she said.
No Avian Flu case had been recorded in the city, but Ms. Baldonado said the recent outbreak in Magsaysay town in Davao del Sur, which is about 90 kilometers southwest of the PEC, already puts their 34 Philippine eagles at risk.
She said the relocation is also part of a long-term plan to have a site that is more conducive for breeding and other conservation activities.
The current center in Malagos has become more “susceptible to infection,” she said, citing the rise of more game farms around the area, among other human activities.
The annual Philippine Eagle Week will be celebrated on June 4 to 13 with “AgiLaya: Lasting Freedom for the Philippine Eagle” as this year’s theme. PEF will stage an exhibit at the SM Lanang Premier highlighting conservation milestones and continuing threats to the country’s national bird. — Maya M. Padillo