Why are eagles and vultures keeping an eye on the missing Israelis? Birds equipped with GPS trackers are searching for dead bodies

It has been more than a month since the Hamas attack on Israel. On October 7, Hamas suddenly attacked Israel. 1400 people died in this. Hamas terrorists had killed people brutally. There are some people among these who are missing. To search for these people, Israel is now using birds which eat meat. The Israeli army has a branch that recruits birds. Ohad Hatzoef of Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority is using GPS tracking devices to study the migration patterns of a variety of birds. Their data helped locate four dead bodies.

israeli winged spies

Eagles, vultures and other birds of prey have a keen sense of smell and can detect dead bodies from a distance. Ohad Hatzofe of Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority said these birds, equipped with GPS tracking devices, are playing a vital role in the search for human remains. When the war started I was contacted by some reservists serving in that unit. He asked me if my birds could use some help. Hatzoff leads a program that monitors endangered griffon vultures, which primarily eat dead animals, as well as eagles and other birds of prey, which he said also eat meat. . The program has tagged hundreds of birds with GPS trackers to study their migratory patterns, feeding habits and the environmental threats they face. On October 23, one of them—a rare sea eagle that had returned to Israeli skies the day before after spending the summer in northern Russia. It was found near Biri, just outside the Gaza Strip. “I sent my data to the military,” Hatzofe said. They went to confirm this and recovered four bodies.

Dozens of people are still missing

85 residents were killed when Hamas militants stormed the heavily militarized border, carrying out the worst attack since Israel’s creation in 1948. According to Israeli officials, more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attack. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel retaliated with sustained bombings and ground offensives, which the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says killed more than 10,500 people, mostly civilians.