Agila Ng Pinas
Sunday, July 22, 2012
FOREWORD
Does all Filipinos interested on the flight of an eagle in the Philippines or are they just interested on money?
Source : " ..
Sustaining the flight of the king
Written By: MindaNews
There is a cliché, though not exactly my favorite: “Money can’t bring happiness.” Who are we trying to fool? Of course, money can bring happiness or at least, it allows us to do things that make ourselves and our beloved happy.
Without funding, how do we run projects that improve the livelihood of indigenous people in remote areas, protect the environment, preserve endangered animals or prevent deforestation? Of course, there is also the factor of human resources. If the fund is approved and there is no staff to do the work, it will be pointless. However, the employees also need to be paid so they can support themselves and their families, don’t they?
Bottom line, money is important and it does matter to help things run smoothly. If human beings were that much dependable on those papers with numbers on it, the world would not be the same as it is now. If some of the most intelligent inventors in the history such as Thomas Edison, Michael Faraday or Joseph Henry, etc., who were born in very poor families, had accepted their fate and waved the white flag toward money, we might be still living in the darkness without the support of any kind of technology.
I was given the chance to visit the Philippine Eagle Center when there was an eagle adoption ceremony going on. This is among the largest facilities in the world for eagles conservation. From the very first day I arrived in the Philippines, I could already sense the pride of Filipino people toward the enormous eagle which can only be found in the Philippines and is the national bird. I have seen along the streets images of the eagle with a very powerful look saying: “Our king can fly” and I love the metaphor. And yes, Filipinos have all the right to be proud. The Philippine eagle is considered one of the largest and most powerful eagles in the world. It is also one of the rarest of all eagle species, found only in the forests of Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao. Unfortunately, the Philippine Eagle is seriously endangered and there are only about 500 pairs left in the wild.
The second I stepped inside the center area, I already felt like being in a tropical rain forest. The place is large and covered with various kinds of trees and plants. I believe this is the effort to bring the eagles the feeling of their own habitat. This is home to 36 Philippine Eagles, 18 of which are captive-bred. They all look very beautiful with white-colored plumage, wide wings with brown feathers, high-arched and deep beak. I kept being amazed by their sharp and powerful eyes. Looking at the place, one can hardly imagine the amount of money spent every year only to maintain it, not yet mentioning developing it.
Talking with Mr. Dennis Salvador, executive director of the Philippines Eagle Foundation (PEF), I started to have a clearer idea about the entire project of conserving this unique kind of animal. Back in the early 80s, this used to be a government’s project of protecting the Philippine Eagle (then called Monkey-eating Eagle) which were noted to be endangered. However, in 1987, the government decided to dismiss the project because they thought it was not working and wanted all the eagle to be moved out of Davao to Luzon. But the environmentalists in Davao fought for the eagles to stay and they succeeded. “So we had the eagles but we had no money!” – Mr. Dennis said. However, the financial constraints did not hinder the staff from pursuing its mission. They waived their salaries for over a year in order to feed the eagles, ensure that fieldwork continued and carry on the great mission of saving the magnificent bird. Walking down every path of the center, every step I took, the names of the donors were honored there, sculptured on the cement. Those were the very first supporters of the center.
Since their work and success were presented to the public, the center started to receive public support. And adopting eagles is one of the financial sources that help the center to overcome the difficult time. The first adoption took place in 1987, the first year they operated the center. So far, 24 out of 36 eagles at the center have been adopted by different private sectors. After an eagle is adopted, it will be named after the donor to recognize their help. The latest one was a 12-year-old female eagle which is named Avida in recognition to the contribution of Avida Land. If all ‑goes well, eagle Avida will mature and bear eagles of her own to help continue the Philippine eagle species. Following the term of agreement signed on 19th July, Avida Land will support PEF for the next 3 years to help breed Philippines eagles. The sponsorship also goes into efforts to educate the public on the importance of the Philippine eagle to Davao ecosystem and to the national heritage.
According to Mr. Dennis Salvador, the adoptions have been helping with sustaining the center and breeding program. However, the most expensive part of the project which is to restore the forest and to work with communities, still causes headache for the operators. “We are dealing with the poorest of the poor so to convince them to protect the forest; you have to show them alternatives. It’s difficult to preach conservation with people who are starving to survive,” he said.
PEF was also asked to submit to become a state’s project again early this year so they can receive the fund from the government but so far, there has been no response from the authority yet. But they do not seem that excited about it and it is understandable when the government did give up on the project from the very beginning.
So, it has been 25 years and PEF has always been struggling to find the funding. They have been reaching out to as many sources as possible to maintain the center. But that did not stop them from pursuing what they truly believe is right. I could feel the love all the staff here has toward the eagles. There is no “it” when referring to the eagles. It is always “she” or “he”. “Alex here, he can no longer fly high due to his injured wings. But Alex is very important here in the Philippine Eagle Foundation because Alex is the ambassador of the wild species in term of educating more people about protecting the wild species.”
(The author Bui Tran Nhu Phuong is a journalist from Vietnam who is a fellow of the Fredskorpset Media Exchange Program in Asia. She writes for Mindanews and contributes feature stories at Mindanao Times.)
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http://www.mindanaotimes.net/sustaining-the-flight-of-the-king/
HUMOR
Animal Loving Daw,bakit aso pusa lang minamahal bakit ang baboy at manok iniihaw bakit ang agila walang care ang Pinoys...where is the funding and conservation of the Philippine Eagle,is there a big news about it? Wala dba?
PROPECHIZMIZ
This Philippine Eagle will die without being heard of by many Filipinos...
