Singapore, Philippines to discuss sending replacement eagle for Geothermica

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The Philippines and Singapore’s Mandai Wildlife Reserve will still have to discuss if a giant raptor shall be sent to replace Geothermica, the male Philippine Eagle that was sent to Singapore in 2019 for a breeding program and died of infection last Sept. 7.

“We are still awaiting a letter or word from Singapore if a replacement for Geothermica shall be sent to the said country,” Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) executive director Dennis Salvador told The STAR.

Geothermica’s partner Sambisig remains at the Mandai Wildlife Reserve.

The two were transported in 2019 from the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao City as part of an international cooperation to save the country’s national bird from extinction.

“The international breeding cooperation that we have with Singapore is very important to our efforts to save the Philippine eagle from extinction,” Salvador said, adding that it is imperative that the gene pool of the giant raptor be improved.

The PEF chief also was all praises for the veterinary hospital and other similar equipment in Singapore and that their facilities could very well address the concerns even of that of a Philippine Eagle like 19-year-old Geothermica, who reportedly succumbed to “a severe lung infection that led to a guarded prognosis.”

“Singapore is very equipped for such endeavor,” Salvador said.

The PEF’s eagle conservation breeding program has so far produced at least 29 eagles bred in captivity starting with Pag-asa, which was hatched on Jan. 15, 1992 and died on Jan. 6, 2021.

There are an estimated 392 pairs of remaining Philippine Eagles, making the giant raptor on the brink of extinction.

Geothermica and Sambisig were brought to Singapore in 2019 under a Wildlife Loan Agreement between the Philippines and the Mandai Wildlife Reserve, which is a 10-year renewable conservation breeding agreement that is part of the Golden Jubilee celebration of the establishment of bilateral relations between the two countries.

“We are heartbroken to share that our 19-year-old male Philippine eagle Geothermica passed away (on Thursday),” Mandai Wildlife Reserve said in a statement late last week.