Shocking: Vulture that flew over Israel-Lebanon border “held for spying”

Representative photo / AP

Bint Jbail, Lebanon: This may seem like a plot from a sci-fi movie but this is exactly what had happened. A vulture was reportedly captured in Lebanon on suspicion of being a spy after it flew across the border with Israel.

According to UPI.com, a local resident of the Lebanese town of Bint Jbail became suspicious after he spotted a tracking device attached to the bird. It is now being suspected that the device might have been attached to the bird by the Tel Aviv University.

However bird ecologist Ohad Hatzofe said, "Locals in Lebanon caught the bird for sure...They were holding the bird in their hands."

The staff at Gamla Nature Reserve were able to track the bird as it crossed the border but lost signal shortly after it entered Bint Jbeil, the report said.

Conservationists had fitted a tracking device to the bird as part of an experiment to study the dwindling population of vulture in Israel. However, Lebanese residents sought to make certain there was no foul play considering the history between the two nations, the report said.

This is not the first time that residents of Lebanon have found birds that serve Israel for research purposes. Fortunately, the bird was later freed by the locals after making sure there was no spying device attached to it.