EYE IN THE SKY

Stork Detained for Spying in Egypt

Tracking device for science, not espionage.

Tensions are so high in Egypt, not even migratory birds are immune from suspicion. A man southeast of Cairo captured a stork with a device strapped to its leg, believing it to be a surveillance tool. A veterinary committee convened by government officials concluded that it was instead a wildlife tracker used by French scientists, and that it stopped working when the stork crossed the French border. It's not the first time Egyptian citizens have suspected wildlife of espionage: Earlier this year, a security guard reported a pigeon he said was carrying microfilm, and in 2010 a rumor attributed a series of shark attacks to an Israeli plot.