Yemen fighters take hostage innocent migrating vulture Nelson claiming it’s an Iranian SPY because it was fitted with GPS tracker
In a bizarre twist, the army general has returned the 'spy' device but won't release Nelson the Bulgarian griffon
YEMENI fighters have taken an innocent vulture hostage, claiming it's a Iranian spy because of its GPS tracker.
Nelson was tagged by a wildlife protection group to reintroduce the Bulgarian griffon species to its native homeland - but he's become a prisoner of civil war.
The bird was making its annual migration south from Bulgaria when it became separated from the others and landed in Taiz, Yemen.
When Nelson was found by the pro-government force that runs Taiz - and has defended it from Houthi rebels - they found his GPS tracker and suspected it was a spying device belonging to the Iranian-backed group, .
Hisham al-Hoot, a local representative of One World Actors Animal Rescues, a British-run animal rescue charity, who has been negotiating for the bird’s release, said: "The problem was the tracker. He was also thinking that the ring in his leg was a camera.”
The device has now been handed over to Mr Hoot by General Abdu Farhan al-Makhlafi, the commander of the base, but the vulture remains in custody.
SPY BIRD
Emilian Stoynov runs the Bulgarian Fund for Wild Flora and Fauna (FWFF) and tagged Nelson before he flew to Yemen.
Local Yemenis found the phone number on the tag and called Mr Stoynov, and he was surprised to learn of Nelson's captivity.
He said it's a mystery the general released the "spy" equipment but not the bird itself, adding: “They clearly consider the agent more important than his equipment.”
Mr Stoynov said Nelson is a young male and part of a programme to boost the population of griffon vultures in Bulgaria’s Eastern Rhodopes mountains.
RESCUE MISSION
Mr Hoot has been recruited to aid in the rescue mission as he has past experience rescuing animals from war-torn locations.
He's currently trying to ensure the survival of a herd of Normandy dairy cows, starving in Yemen after being gifted to the country as part of a French aid project.
Kim-Michelle Broderick, the founder of One World, said it was odd that with 20 million Yemenis starving in the famine, so much effort was being put into the survival of a vulture.
She said: “There are millions of human beings to be concerned about. But someone has to do this.”
In 2013 a tagged stork caused trouble when it was seized by police on an island in the Nile in Egypt under spying suspicions.
The bird was returned to the farmer who found it, but did not survive the ordeal as it was eaten but local villagers.
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