Israeli fisheries win respite from migrating pelicans

Migrating pelicans are gorging on commercial fish deemed unfit for human consumption in Israel, providing some respite to the country's fisheries which have seen their stocks depleted by the hungry birds.

At Mishmar Hasharon, a farming kibbutz on the Mediterranean coast, tonnes of fish that would otherwise have been thrown away have been dumped in a pond where thousands of pelicans flock.

Snacking there on their route south, the pelicans create noisy, crowded scenes that are in stark contrast to their Biblical image, presented in texts such as Psalm 102, as lonely wilderness birds.