ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – In a first, 10 critically endangered Negros bleeding-heart pigeons were turned over on January 15 to the Philippines by Singapore’s Mandai Wildlife Group.
The pigeon – so called because of a vivid red or orange patch of plumage on its breast that resembles a puncture wound – is endemic to the Philippines.
There are only 70 to 400 left in the central Philippine island provinces of Panay and Negros, according to the conservation group Birdlife International.
The pigeons were once thriving in the 19th Century, but had become extremely rare by the 1930s. Habitat loss due to deforestation nearly decimated their population.
Panay and Negros have lost nearly all their primary forests to industrial-scale farming, housing development, and timber and charcoal burning. The impact of hunting, including for the live bird trade, led to a further population decline in recent decades.
To save the Negros bleeding-heart pigeon from extinction, the Philippines sent three breeding pairs to Singapore in 2021.
This was done via a programme overseen by Mandai Wildlife Group, the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Talarak Foundation-Negros Forest Park.
