Agadir hosts international workshop on safeguard of bald ibis

Experts from several Arab and European countries are currently meeting in the southern Moroccan city of Agadir to examine means of safeguarding the endangered bald ibis.

The bald ibis, which used to live in Turkey, Syria, Algeria and the Alps of Central Europe, has disappeared from all these countries and all attempts to reintroduce it have failed.

The species now exists only in the southern Moroccan region of Souss-Massa that still hosts some 250 birds.

The species will be extinguished completely if nothing is done to protect it and ensure its reproduction, warned the participating experts from Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Israel, Morocco, Spain and Turkey.

Poaching, destruction of nests, and use of pesticides are among the main causes endangering the species, the experts said.