Compiled news by Naharnet and BBC

Middle East Airlines chairman Mohammed al-Hout had on
Saturday warned that “birds that gather on the tarmacs of Beirut’s
international airport pose a serious threat,” noting that “preserving
passengers’ safety is the priority. “I sent the hunters and we have to choose between MEA’s
birds (planes) and seagulls… Unfortunately, we are obliged to
exterminate these birds,” Hout added, revealing that he was behind a
controversial decision to send hunters to the airport’s vicinity to gun
down seagulls and other types of birds.

Activists from the You Stink
campaign and the civil society staged a protest Sunday inside Beirut’s
airport against the nearby Costa Brava garbage landfill and the manner
in which Lebanese authorities have addressed the presence of seagulls
threatening flight safety around the airport. “We call for eliminating the main reason behind this
crisis, which is the Costa Brava landfill,” You Stink activist Lucien
Bourjeily said, referring to the seagull problem. “For Flight Safety, Remove The Landfill”, read banners carried by the protesters.

Hunters have been spotted shooting
dead birds said to be threatening planes at Beirut’s international
airport, an environmental group has claimed. The men were spotted
on a nearby rubbish dump blamed for attracting birds days after their
increasing presence was called an “emergency”. It is feared a bird
strike could cause a crash, but the Lebanon Eco Movement have said
shooting the seagulls breaches an international conservation agreement. It is unclear who the hunters are. Some
activists called the shooting a “massacre”, while the Lebanon Eco
Movement released a statement condemning the killings “under the eyes of
the security forces” and in light of the government’s vow “to preserve
the environment”

The statement accused them of violating the International Convention for the Protection of Aquatic Birds. Transport Minister Yusef Fenianos promised to deal with the problem
earlier this week, after local media reported a Middle East Airlines
flight encountered a large flock of birds as it landed on the airport’s
west runway. It was suggested an increase in devices emitting bird
of prey calls around the airport to scare off the animals could solve
the issue. But groups said this would not go far enough, and
called for the dump to be closed – which it was on Thursday, less than a
year after it opened.

The decision to shoot down seagulls has angered
environmentalist groups, which described the move on Saturday as an
“extermination campaign.” The step has also sparked a storm of criticism
on social networking websites. The hunting of seagulls violates the Agreement on the
Conservation  of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, environmentalists
have warned. On Friday, Transport and Public Works Minister Youssef
Fenianos announced after an emergency meeting that foreign experts have
suggested the use of pyrotechnics, flare pistols, percussion bombs,
auditory repellents and chemical repellents to keep birds away from the
airport.

It had been part of an effort try and resolve the city’s waste
problems, which had seen piles of rubbish stack up on the streets
following the closure of the main dump. But a planned waste
processing facility on the site is yet to be built, allowing rubbish to
build up as high as 9m (30ft), according to reports. As a result,
it was attracting rodents and increasing numbers of birds, which were
seen flocking around the runways of the airport.