In a report under the headline "IS threat to Syria's northern bald ibis near Palmyra", BBC published news on the current situation of the migratory northern bald ibis group, which is on the brink of extinction according to IUCN Red List. Today, we are publishing a story which refutes this claim.

 

"Three birds held in captivity were abandoned last week after their bedouin guards fled the fighting (in Palmyra, Syria). Their fate is unknown. The Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon ("Officials", in the Arabic release!) has offered a reward of $1,000 (£646) for information on the whereabouts of Zenobia, the only remaining bird who knows the migration routes to wintering grounds in Ethiopia," the BBC reported.

 

Asaad Serhal, Head of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon told BBC that finding Zenobia, the fourth-released bird, is of high importance. "Without her, birds bred in captivity cannot learn the migration routes and the species could go extinct in the wild in Syria," Serhal confirmed.

 

However, Environment and Development Magazine sources inside Syria have another story. The Northern Bald Ibis protection project, financed by governments of Italy and Syria and supported by International NGOs, is practically not running since the second half of 2013 due to the unsecure situation within the project area. Actually, no bit of information is available about the migratory Ibis group since the beginning of 2014.

 

In April 2013, Zenobia was the only bird which returned for breeding in Abyadh Mountain, north of Palmyra city. In July 2013, six birds from the semi-wild northern bald ibis population at Birecik, Turkey, were released in a trial reintroduction to nature. Five of the Turkish birds departed south guided by the female guru Zenobia.

 

Yilma Abebe, a trusted fieldworker, spotted Zenobia and other two ibises in their Ethiopian winter habitat in February 2014. That was the last ever-heard news.

 

Our sources assured that the ibis's breeding region in Syria lies between Abyadh and Qattar mountains to the north of Palmyra city. The region became unstable since the end of 2013 as it played an important logistic role for the fighters who were eager to control the strategic Sha'er Mountain. Fierce clashes and multiple exchanges of control over land took place in this region between the Syrian army, the armed rebels and the "Islamic State".

 

Therefore, it was impossible for the Syrian workers to carry out any monitoring activity within the breeding region, least catch the presumably returning Zenobia or release three captive birds, as stated in the BBC piece of news. Most probably, the migratory group of the Northern Bald Ibis was already extinct in 2014.

 

 

PHOTO: Female Zenobia in Plamyra, Syria, 2006.

CREDIT: G. Serra.