Feliks returned to Serbia on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, after being caught by poachers and illegally sold during its first migratory flight. The eastern imperial eagle was at Palic Zoo after the return.
The bird set off last year on its first migratory flight from Serbia and crossed North Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and Syria before reaching the Middle East, where poachers caught it. That route turned a single migration into a cross-border wildlife-trafficking case.
Serbia and the migration route
Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia tracked the path in a way that shows how quickly a young bird can move beyond one country’s reach. Feliks’s route passed through four named countries before the bird was caught in the Middle East and sold illegally.
For Serbia, the return closes a journey that began as a migration and ended as a trafficking ordeal. The sequence matters because the bird did not simply disappear after leaving Serbia; it moved across North Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and Syria before entering the Middle East market where poachers intervened.
Palic Zoo in Serbia
Feliks was at Palic Zoo after coming back to Serbia, giving the bird a known place of care at the end of the recovery. The return on June 24, 2026 is the key change for anyone following the case: Feliks is back in Serbia after the flight, the capture and the illegal sale.
What remains most notable is the order of events. Last year Feliks left Serbia on its first migratory flight; after that, the eagle crossed several countries, fell victim to poachers in the Middle East and was sold illegally before making it back to Serbia on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.
