Nine vultures were found dead in southern Israel, having likely been poisoned, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority said Sunday.
The corpses of the carrion-eating birds were found near the Kina and Kamrir Rivers area, south of the city of Arad.
2 View gallery
Corpses of some of the poisoned vultures
(Photo: Eyal Ben Giat, Israel Nature and Parks Authority)
Israel's south, according to estimations, contains 170 vultures, and to feed them, Israel Nature and Parks Authority workers scatter special food at feeding stations to prevent vultures from eating poisoned meat or meat that might have gone bad in the wild.
The incident came to the authorities' attention thanks to information received from electronic tags attached to the vultures. As a result, Nature and Parks Authority inspectors went out into the field and found the vultures dead alongside a dead goat, which is also suspected to have been poisoned.
The goat and the vultures were moved for testing at the veterinary institute in Beit Dagan, while the inspectors together with dogs that can detect poison, searched the area to find further evidence. In addition, Nature and Parks Authority inspectors observed and searched the vulture colonies located in Sde Boker and HaMakhtesh HaKatan areas.
At the end of the investigation, the authority is set to file a complaint with the police.
2 View gallery
Corpses of some of the poisoned vultures
(Photo: Eyal Ben Giat, Israel Nature and Parks Authority)
Eyal Ben Giat, Nature and Parks Authority worker, said "other animals may have been poisoned as well, these areas also contain jackals, hyenas, and wolves. We are conducting further sweeps of the area, and there is a real concern that other wildlife was hurt."
According to Ben Giat, all nine vultures were tagged and monitored, and a lot of effort was invested in keeping them safe.
This is the second major poisoning of vultures over the last few years. In May 2019, eight vultures were poisoned and died in the Golan Heights. Two other vultures, who also ate the poisoned meat, were saved. One of them was a vulture specially imported from Spain, to help increase the specie's population in the Golan Heights.
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority in response said, "in Israel, there are some 200 vultures, the nine [dead] vultures make up almost 5% of the entire population. Until a change in the law is made, it will be very hard to catch those who poison vultures. Even if they will be caught, they probably won't be prosecuted."