Davao center hatches 12th eaglet in captivity

DAVAO CITY – And now there are 12.

The number of eaglets bred in captivity at the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) in Malagos, Calinan District reached an even dozen Monday.

The latest eaglet weighed 121 grams upon hatching, and was the seventh offspring produced by the prolific pair in the existing gene pool of the PEC, that of "Jag" and "Ka Brianne."

The new eaglet was the 12th hatched since the center opened in 1992, whose captive breeding method has produced famous eagles Pag-asa and Pagkakaisa.

This developed as the PEC is also awaiting the hatching within the month of two other eggs that were produced using the "double clutching" method on natural pairs "Tsai" and "Princess Maasim."

Dennis Salvador, executive director of the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) that runs the PEC, said the center can now claim to have developed a more reliable and predictable captive breeding method after 11 years.

The center also hopes to establish a stronger gene pool for captive breeding purposes, now that it has at least 28 Philippine eagles in its care.

"The PEC has increasingly gained knowledge and expertise in breeding the endangered species. This process has now allowed the PEF to take eagle conservation to its next level — that of reintroducing the species back to its original range," Salvador said.

The PEF is now in the midst of developing more effective methods on how the RP eagles kept at the PEC can be released to the wild, but at the same time not losing track of the giant raptors. To monitor their movements after release, radio telemetry equipment shall be planted on the eagles.

A separate team is surveying possible release sites for the birds, particularly in forests where there will be very minimal human contact.

The new eaglet was reportedly supposed to hatch last Saturday but the egg did not show any signs of breaking. PEC staff assisted the eaglet in the entire hatching process that successfully ended around 8:30 a.m. Monday.

Although the eaglet was relatively underweight, it was described to be "healthy and doing fairly well."