Couple rescue wounded baby serpent eagle in Kidapawan City

KIDAPAWAN CITY —A couple rescued on Friday afternoon an injured baby eagle and turned it over to a local radio station.

Rebeca Bacat and her husband were walking by the roadside in Barangay Luvimin when they heard a loud chirping coming from a bushy area near rows of rubber trees.

Wounded baby serpent eagle. --Williamor Magbanua

Matured serpent eagle. GMA News

She followed the source of the chirping and found the wounded baby bird, which she described as "looking like an eagle."

“I picked it up and wrapped it in handkerchief and turn it over to dxND Radio station,” Bacat said.

Hermie Dugaduga, the station’s security guard received the bird, and noticed that it has lacerations in the head.

“I saw small worms in the bird’s head, perhaps because of the wound,” Dugaduga said, adding that they immediately washed the wound with agua oxigenada, a common remedy for skin cuts.

Also, Dugaduga said the bird looks hungry and weak.

Bacat believed that the bird could have fallen from a nearby forest at the foot of Mount Apo.

She said that rescues of grounded birds by the roadside is common in the village.

In past years, she said, at least three serpent eagles had been turned over to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Kidapawan.

Upon seeing the photo of the bird, Dr. Eugene Gornez, confirmed that the bird was baby serpent eagle, an endangered species.

Gornez said that at least the bird is four-month old, based on the development of the feathers and length of the beak.

DxND disc jockeys and reporters brought the eagle to a veterinarian. The bird will stay there for observation and will be turned over to the DENR on Monday. —LBG, GMA News