By Henrylito D. Tacio Visitors, both foreigners and locals, who
come to this city for the first time are almost always attracted
to the Philippine Eagle Center in Malagos, Calinan. Some 30
kilometers northwest and about an hour’s ride from downtown
Davao, the center is the transient home of the endangered
Philippine eagle (‘Pithecophaga jefferyi’). Here, a dozen male
and female eagles are being induced to breed in captivity. “When
you protect the eagle, you’re also protecting the environment,”
said Dr. James Grier, the American wildlife scientist who helped
hatched Pag-asa (which means “hope” in the country’s national
dialect), the first captive bred eagle in the country. “Pag-asa
connotes hope for the continued survival of the Philippine
eagle, hope that if people get together for the cause of the
Philippine eagle, it shall not be doomed to die,” said Dennis
Salvador, executive director of the Philippine Eagle Foundation,
Inc. “By using the Philippine eagle as the focal point of our
conservation, we are, in