Published 2026-06-30 23.08
Captured by poachers and sold – then rescued by refugees and smuggled across the border. Feliks the Imperial Eagle is home in Serbia, after an adventure that surpasses a Hollywood script.
The one-year-old eagle left Serbia in August for its first journey to the Middle East, flying over North Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and Syria. In October, the bird protection organization that noticed Feliks lost contact with the transmitter.
The eagle had been captured by poachers in Syria and sold to Lebanon. Before the organization’s employees could track him down, he was sold back to Syria, and getting Feliks back was made difficult by fighting in the region.
Finally, a group of refugees managed to smuggle the eagle in a sack of potatoes across the border, but getting him home was now made difficult by the war in the Middle East. The UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon came to the rescue – and were sent home by military plane.
