*[Enwl-eng] Overwatch

[enwl]

In Lebanon, a small team of bird lovers is protecting vulnerable species.





                                News of the world environment


                                 NEWSLETTER | JANUARY 5, 2024

























                                Overwatch

                                LYING BELLY DOWN, her elbows propped on the 
edge of a cliff, Shirine Bou Raffoul peers through her binoculars, watching 
a group of men and boys among the pines on the other side of the valley. The 
woods of Akkar al Atiqa, in Lebanon’s far north, are breathtaking — sharp 
cliffs dramatically giving way to crisp, undulating green — but the scenery 
is a second thought. Bou Raffoul is focused on poachers.

                                A member of the local Middle East 
Sustainable Hunting Center’s Anti-Poaching Unit, or APU, Bou Raffoul and her 
fellow team of six, including her older brother, Maroun, are on a mission to 
capture video evidence of the illegal killing of migratory birds. Both 
Shirine and Maroun are employed by the German Committee Against Bird 
Slaughter, or CABS, which sends members and runs anti-poaching missions over 
each migratory season with partners like the APU.

                                Lebanon is situated in the middle of the 
East African-Eurasian flyway, making the country one of the most important 
migration corridors in the world for many species of birds. But the country 
also has a long tradition of bird hunting, which has been a disaster for 
species of concern like honey buzzards and lesser spotted eagles. Between 
three and five million migratory birds are shot in Lebanon each year as they 
make the dangerous trip from Europe to Africa and back each spring and 
autumn.

                                In Akkar al Attiqa, the wind is strong so 
the birds are flying low, making them easier targets. Two shots reverberate 
across the valley, and with their video cameras poised, the anti-poaching 
team announces they have caught a poacher shooting two honey buzzards. The 
team immediately calls the local police and the national Internal Security 
Force, as Maroun and a fellow APU team member jump in a car and speed down a 
dirt track. After travelling some distance, they stop the vehicle, jump out, 
and run up a hill, where they’d seen the buzzards fall. They find them: One 
of the birds is hung up in a pine tree, dead, the other fallen to the 
ground, wounded but alive.



                                Writer Tessa Fox reports on bird hunting in 
Lebanon, where a small anti-poaching unit is working to educate hunters 
about the toll of wanton killing.





                                READ MORE

                                Photo by Tessa Fox





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                        From: Editors, Earth Island Journal
                        Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2024 4:45 AM
                        Subject: Overwatch




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