Saudi Arabian security has apparently “detained” a Griffon Vulture they noticed was outfitted with a GPS transmitter. Why? The device bore a Tel Aviv University label prompting concern that the bird was a surveillance device, according to the BBC citing Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper. The BBC article does not include a response from the Saudis. From the BBC:
“The device does nothing more than receive and store basic data about the bird’s whereabouts, and about his altitude and speed,” a bird specialist at Israel’s Park and Nature Authority told the newspaper.
The data would be used to improve understanding of the endangered species’ behaviour.
“Now, this poor bird is paying a terrible price. That’s very sad,” said the unnamed expert…
In December, the governor of Egypt’s South Sinai province, Mohamed Abdul Fadil Shousha, suggested the spy agency may have had a hand in a string of deadly shark attacks off the coast of the Sharm el-Sheikh resort.
He said it was “not out of the question” that Mossad had put the killer shark in the area.
“Saudi Arabia ‘detains’ Israeli vulture for spying”