09 October 2011

Philippine eagle, shot dead

A report says that the two year old female Philippine eagle that was captured last May 2010 and was released back into the wild was shot dead. The Philippine Eagle Foundation tagged the bird of prey with a transmitter that enabled the foundation to track it down.

The news is heartbreaking because the Philippine eagle is an endangered species, meaning that in a few years, they could perish forever. We may only be able to see them through the films and pictures. The incident can be summed up to one thing, our inability to care. The trigger happy person who shot the Philippine Eagle has no idea what he did. I am sure that he doesn’t even regret doing what he did to the helpless bird.

We have a very beautiful country with abundance of nature but we just don’t know how to appreciate and respect beauty. We abuse nature and that’s the reason why nature is punishing us. When we’re helpless with nature’s unforgiving punishments, we cry for help, yet never learned from our mistakes.

The Philippine Eagle Foundation has been education people not only in Davao area of the importance of the eagle in our consciousness as a nation. It’s ironic however that the eagle was shot in Davao. It simply means that the PEF has to exert more effort in educating people in the nearby areas. We commend the PEF for all their efforts but more should be done in disseminating information on how we could protect the Philippine Eagle. I acknowledge the fact that PEF cannot be solely responsible in protecting our eagles. We ordinary citizens can do our share by educating our fellow Filipinos. The Philippine eagle is part of our national identity. We should treasure them.

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