Belgrade – Feliks’ trip seems like the script of a Hollywood movie, with kidnappers, traffickers and clandestine border crossings.
The one-year-old eastern imperial eagle from Serbia began flying in August and later made its first migratory flight to the Middle East, but was captured by poachers, sold illegally and rescued in a daring cross-border mission.
Although Feliks returned home safely last week, his ordeal highlighted both the widespread practice of the illegal for-profit animal trade and the tireless fight by animal protection organizations to combat it.
“The situation is getting worse year after year, season after season, day after day,” said Michel Sawan, president of the Lebanese Association for Migratory Birds, who played a key role in Feliks’s rescue. “The truth is that we find it difficult to believe… that the mission has been carried out successfully.”
Feliks flew thousands of miles before he was detained in Syria
The eastern imperial eagle is an imposing bird of prey with a wingspan of up to 6 feet (2 meters). This species, protected in Serbia, had been reduced to a single breeding pair in 2017, but has recovered thanks to the tireless work of the Society for the Protection and Study of Birds of Serbia (BPSSS).
Feliks, the precious offspring of a new generation of eagles, was ringed and fitted with a “small backpack” with a transmitter before embarking on its journey last August, according to Uros Stojiljkovic of the BPSSS.
“Everything seemed normal,” Stojiljkovic added. “We never would have imagined that all this would happen.”
Feliks first flew in circles near his home before heading southeast, passing through North Macedonia, Greece and Türkiye. Its tracking signal was lost in late October in Syria.
“We were hoping it was due to a problem with the transmitter or something like that,” Stojiljkovic said.
Several weeks passed before news came from Sawan: Feliks had been put up for sale after being captured by poachers who catch migratory birds by placing water in the desert, shooting them, capturing them with nets or even chasing them on a motorcycle.
“When Felix was arrested, it was spread in many WhatsApp groups that he was selling wild birds caught illegally in Syria,” Sawan explained. “I started calling people I know in Syria on the phone and we were able to get in touch with Felix.”
Paying the traffickers was unthinkable, but Sawan was not ready to give up.
From smugglers to refugees and a Serbian army plane
Feliks was sold to a buyer in Lebanon and later resold in Syria before Sawan managed to recover it thanks to a network of collaborators. As he explained, the fighting in the region and bad weather conditions then prevented Feliks from crossing the border into Lebanon.
Finally, a group of refugees carried Feliks in a sack of potatoes across the Nahr al-Kabir River, on the northern border between Syria and Lebanon. “It was crazy,” Sawan said.
Although he was now safe in the Sawan bird sanctuary in Beirut, Feliks had yet to return home, a task that became virtually impossible after the start of the war in Iran in February.
After three failed attempts, the Serbian army came to the rescue with its troops assigned to a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. Finally, on June 22, Feliks returned to Serbia aboard a military transport plane.
Feliks and other birds also face dangers in their own home
Feliks is now in a zoo in northern Serbia, where he must remain in quarantine for 21 days. BPSSS experts say that a new transmitter will be fitted before she is released again.
Over the past decade, the BPSSS has worked intensively to plant trees and install bird platforms throughout the agricultural plain of northern Serbia. Back in 2017, volunteers organized a 24-hour watch on the only remaining breeding pair to make sure they were safe. Subsequently, a project supported by the European Union helped increase the population to the current 29 breeding pairs.
“The dangers remain many, from accidental poisoning to electrical cables,” Stojiljkovic said.
“Feliks came full circle and came back to square one,” Stojiljkovic said. “Let’s hope he doesn’t get bored here.”
This story was translated from English to Spanish with an artificial intelligence tool and was reviewed by an editor before publication.