Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In what sounds more like an action movie than real life, Feliks the eastern imperial eagle was rescued and returned to his home in Serbia after flying to Syria and being kidnapped and sold across borders in the Middle East.
The eastern imperial eagle is a protected species in Serbia. The country had only one breeding pair left in 2017, and since then the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia has worked to recover the species. Feliks is a part of that new generation of eagles.
Feliks's kidnapping and rescue highlights the problem of illegal animal trade and the effort that animal protection groups put in to counter it.
“We can actually barely believe ... the mission was done successfully,” said Michel Sawan, the head of the Lebanese Association for Migratory Birds.
In what sounds more like an action movie than real life, Feliks the eastern imperial eagle was rescued and returned to his home in Serbia after flying to Syria and being kidnapped and sold across borders in the Middle East.
The eastern imperial eagle is a protected species in Serbia. The country had only one breeding pair left in 2017, and since then the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia has worked to recover the species. Feliks is a part of that new generation of eagles.
Feliks's kidnapping and rescue highlights the problem of illegal animal trade and the effort that animal protection groups put in to counter it.
“We can actually barely believe ... the mission was done successfully,” said Michel Sawan, the head of the Lebanese Association for Migratory Birds.
