There is no fighting chance for migratory birds when they fly over Lebanon: Hunting laws may be in place in the Middle East, but who’s enforcing them?
From storks and pelicans to hoopoes to eagles to migratory songbirds… see the images of the bloodbath in Lebanon during this year’s hunting season. And these images are only from the jerks who posted their kill on social media networks.
If you think migratory birds are in trouble as they pass over just Lebanon, think again. In Cyprus song birds are hunted down by the millions every year for a pickled dish, and the images coming out of Cairo are just as gruesome.
RELATED: Pickled song birds for a song
Birds that over-winter in Africa fly to Europe every summer via the Syria-Africa Rift Valley, then back up to Europe when winter thaws. As if obtaining food isn’t hard enough, these birds are regularly trapped and shot down for sport and food.
Crimes against wildlife must be reported and markets and restaurants offering these kinds of “delicacies” on the menu must be shamed. It’s a shame that the hunter’s faces were blotted out.
Images collected by Stop Hunting Crimes in Lebanon
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist and publisher that founded Green Prophet to unite a prosperous Middle East. She shows through her work that positive, inspiring dialogue creates action that impacts people, business and planet. She has published in thought-leading newspapers and magazines globally, owns an IoT tech chip patent, and is part of teams that build world-changing products to make agriculture and our planet more sustainable. Reach out directly to [email protected]
The ONLY area in the whole of the middle east where birds are generally safe is Israel. These people have a respect for nature that most of the Arab world knows nothing of. They don’t get the credit they deserve for this attitude. Seems to me we didn’t give enough of the Middle-East to Israel!
Very very amusing..eapecially if you consider a closer look. The shells that are put next to the birds.. Well if they used that to shoot the birds there wouldnt have been anything left..
The stork needs ocean/water, so its mediterranean cost or south lebanon where you can see those in lebanon.. The south lebanon is a death trap for any and everyone… Because when usa last time went to war against them they used dirty bombs, the reports on that was common knowledge, and vice toghether with doctors without borders confirmed this and it was a huge outrage about this.. The people in lebanon. Grow most of their food there, needless to say they get more then a healthy dose of radiation. It has been a very large debate in the arab world about trying to erigate a diffent area and grow food but its very difficult since very steep mountains surround Beiruth. The reason why the people have been trying to get help to move the fields is that no small animals manages to survive there.. Not a single rat.. Let alone birds.. The first years they didnt know why it was raining birds.. And the dam they have for drinking water got contaminated with birdflu and salmonella (migratory birds from asia). The people and especially the children there is suffering from exposure to radioactivity, much like fallujah but not as severe… The mediterranean is already radiactive, and where lebanon is situated the dumping that turkey does floats directly to the beaches between beiruth and saida..(see current maps). So the water there is more than dirty. Any stork in those waters would be covered in oil.. For several of the other pictures i suggest to do a picture search they feature in other articles claiming to be from other countries… IMHO… Enviroment is important, nature is important, animals is important, but some lousy attempt to muster up more hate is not important and just plain dumb… Try saving the enviroment where it would make a impact… How about the nuclear waste water that is pumped straight out from the nuclear plant in hartford, its no coincident its one huge cancer cluster, and all animals there dies.. Its been going on since 1992 when they found a loophole and figured they wont get fined if they dont put it in barrels…or why not consider the birds that dies from the deliberate methane leak in california.. Or the millions of other HUGE enviromental crimes that the elite gets away with… THEY ARE THE REAL THREATH TO EVERY LIVING THING !
Radamila.You are 100% right.
There are two issues: 1) cruelty and 2) environmental or ecological damage. This massacre sadly fits both. Bullfighting is an example of cruelty but causes no environmental damage (although this is not a justification). The truly shocking thing about the situation with Lebanese bird-killing is just how many birds of many different species are being needlessly slaughtered. Many of these birds are protected and treasured in Europe (Polish White Storks, for example) and already in serious decline due to a combination of factors such as habitat loss, and such a high level of killing pushes these species ever closer to the edge. Why does the Lebanese government not take serious action against the illegal hunters? They post their stupid photos on facebook, so the evidence is right there. Why wait for NGOs to report these criminals?
These photos alone show a wide range of species being targeted -White Storks, so beloved and protected by Eastern European nations, White Pelicans, Bee-eaters, Swallows, Hoopoes, the declining European Roller, Honey Buzzards, White Wagtails, Wheatears… etc etc. This is simply unsustainable. The birds are forced along a narrow front by the region’s geographical features and so are vulnerable over this narrow stretch of the Mediterranean. The result is that Lebanese hunters have a disproportionately serious impact on these birds as they a re funnelled through this migratory bottleneck. Yes, the French kill Ortolan Buntings for a special dish and there are still big problems with illegal hunting on Malta, Spain, Italy and so it is true the Europeans, to their shame, are not innocent. However, there are active campaigns to stop these practices and there are arrests and prosecutions, which very much helps to reduce these activities. You won’t see illegal hunters in Europe so fearless of prosecution that they post their crimes on facebook! The situation in Lebanon is so big and so serious that the actions in Europe look like nothing in comparison. This is like Malta x 100 in scale and could really threaten a number of migratory species.
These birds are guests in Lebanon and should be treated with respect. True hunters would only take what they need – they would not kill everything that they saw for fun. Lebanon has an amazing natural gift that could bring many tourists to visit to see these birds, if they were protected. It is difficult to have respect for a country that so freely destroys the birds that are so precious to Europe and Africa – they belong to everyone, not just Lebanese hunters. Lebanon has many good things – its muti-religious society, its good food, its history and natural beauty, its relative tolerance for a Middle eastern country. This destruction of wildlife, however, shames Lebanon and is a stain on its reputation. It makes Lebanon look ignorant, prehistoric and greedy. Please, Lebanon, you can stop this and gain a lot of respect from the rest of the world.
That’s utterly sad & disgusting. But again, I won’t expect mercy to emanate from those hunters when it comes to their preys. Copying the Human Rights Watch blurb on Lebanon:
The security situation in Lebanon deteriorated in 2013 with violence spilling over from the armed conflict in Syria. Sectarian tensions led to deadly clashes in Tripoli and Saida amidst a climate of impunity for gunmen. Internal Security Forces (ISF) subjected suspected drug users, sex workers, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in their custody to ill-treatment and torture. Migrant domestic workers were excluded from the labor law and subjected to restrictive immigration rules based on employer-specific sponsorship—the kafala system—which put workers at risk of exploitation and abuse. Discriminatory provisions that significantly harm and disadvantage women continued to exist in personal status laws, determined by an individual’s religious affiliation.
Hopefully the birds will manage to find safer sky routes, at least until the region addresses its bigger tragedies. They’re smart animals.
It’s reported that some of the hunters were ruled to a month in prison and a fine of ~330 USD.
My dad is a hunter in Canada. He has a license and has to buy tags for every animal he intends to hunt. The police take illegal hunting very seriously. $330 is a slap on the wrist. In Canada illegal hunting comes with much bigger penalties, as it should.
My uncles too used to hunt, but not systematically massacre the birds like in the story and the facebook page. The most they’d do to the corpse after the fact is taxidermy. But to shove a lit cigarette between the beaks? That’s a novelty.
There was an article in the New York Times this week about songbirds that are hunted in France for a special dish. So the Europeans are not immune to this barbarism it seems.
Animal cruelty is not restricted to a region. Bullfighting is practiced on 4 continents, but Spain & South American nations get most of the shaming. I guess we get offended the most when we see such ecological crimes committed against wild birds, which in the human psyche symbolize higher ideals like freedom & love.
The only words I can use is Barbarians! People in some countries are very uneducated, low life with wrong twisted mind. They call themselves Muslims… (Translation from Arabic; Mus ull Man means Man who believes in God) then how Man who believes in God can destroy God’s creations, where in Koran it says to kill animals in cruel way. Their religion leaders brainwashing everyone and they are far away from God’s Law! Shame on them! They are not Humans and do not deserve to be on this Earth created by God!