Endangered northern bald ibis shot

One of only five northern bald ibis in the Middle East has been killed by hunters as the last surviving population of the birds outside Morocco heads towards extinction.

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Published: 7:00AM BST 25 Sep 2009

Photograph of the Bald Ibis taken by the hunter who shot it.
The bird later died of its injuries. Photo: RSPB

The bird used to be found across parts of southern and central Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and even features in the hieroglyphs of Ancient Egypt.

However hunting and loss of habitat mean there are just over 200 birds left in Morocco in addition to the handful struggling to survive in Syria.

A female bird, that was tagged in a satellite tracking project led by BirdLife International, was migrating across the deserts of Saudi Arabia to North-east Africa when it was illegally shot.

Eng Ali Hamoud, of the Syrian Desert Commission, said the species could now be wiped out in the Middle East.

"We were excited that tagging a sub-adult bald ibis may have helped us to solve the mystery of where young ibises spend the winter, but now we may never know. The shooting of a young bird from such a tiny population is devastating news and it shows that hunting is a major threat to this species.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6226304/Endangered-northern-bald-ibis-shot.html