Syria conflict threatens endangered species

Eric Hopton for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

War inevitably produces unpredictable collateral damage and, although the human cost is always at the forefront of our minds, military conflict can have deadly consequences for wildlife.

According to a report by the BBC, the advance of Islamic State in Syria is now a serious threat to one critically-endangered species, the northern bald Ibis. The capture of Palmyra by IS means that a small breeding colony of the Ibis, discovered in 2002, is at risk. If this colony fails, the species will almost certainly become extinct in Syria.

The species was already struggling to survive. In 2013, only one female returned from the birds’ wintering quarters in Ethiopia. Now, three birds held in captivity to support the colony in the future were abandoned last week when their Bedouin guards fled the fighting.

$1,000 reward for Zenobia

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL) has offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who can provide information on the last remaining wild bird, known as Zenobia after the queen of Palmyra. She has been known to follow the ancient migration route.

If Zenobia does not survive and return, she could not teach any captive birds the ancient migration routes, and this could see the extinction of the species in Syria.

Real danger of extinction

“Culture and nature, they go hand in hand, and war stops, but nobody can bring back a species from extinction,” Asaad Serhal, Head of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon, told the BBC.

These birds were once common in large areas of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Numbers have slowly dwindled as hunting and loss of habitat loss take an immense toll. Morocco and Syria were the last remaining strongholds, and 95% of truly wild birds are now in one subpopulation in Morocco. Human encroachment, predation by other species, including birds of prey and the Brown-necked Raven Corvus ruficollis, and even the birds’ tendency to use electricity pylons as perches are major risks for the Moroccan survivors.

The situation looks bleak for the northern bald Ibis, but conservation efforts continue in Morocco.

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