Private helicopter detained in Russia after endangering rare birds

VLADIVOSTOK, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — A private helicopter was detained for flying dangerously low over Russia’s Far Eastern Marine Reserve, nearly killing a flock of rare red spoonbills, one of the world’s most endangered species, authorities said Wednesday.
According to a press release from the Land of the Leopard National Park, the Eurocopter AS355 helicopter, carrying four passengers, intended to land near Sivuchya Bay for a leisure stop.
However, state inspectors intervened after the chopper flew just six meters above the reserve’s waters, frightening off a flock of spoonbills that tourists were observing. The pilot then landed illegally within the reserve’s restricted area.
“The pilot’s dangerously low flight could have drawn the birds into the helicopter’s blades, risking a crash and endangering human lives,” the report stated. Due to the disturbance, over 150 birds fled their feeding grounds, and many have not returned.
The red spoonbill is one of the rarest birds in the world, listed in the Red Data Book, an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological species. Its only nesting site in Russia is Furugelm Island, in the southern part of the Far Eastern Marine Reserve.
In the 1990s, due to hunting, habitat destruction, and environmental pollution, the global population of the rare red spoonbills dropped to a critically low 288. Thanks to conservation efforts, its population worldwide has recovered to approximately 1,500. ■