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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: SEPTEMBER 2006

War hurts wildlife

Scarce wildlife habitat in both Lebanon and Israel took a big hit from the July and August 2006 fighting.

"Huge swaths of forests and fields across northern Israel were scorched by Hezbollah rocket strikes," reported Associated Press writer Aron Heller. "Charred branches stick out of the ground like grave markers at the Mount Naftali Forest overlooking Kiryat Shemona. In all, the rocket fire has destroyed 16,500 acres of forests and grazing fields, according to Jewish National Fund forest supervisor Michael Weinberger, the top administrator of Israel's forests. About one million trees were destroyed.

"The Mount Naftali Forest," planted by Israeli settlers in 1948, "was hit by rockets earlier," Heller continued. "Afternoon gusts carried the flames, wiping out 750 acres and trapping gazelles, jackals, rabbits and snakes."

Less than an hour's drive north in peacetime, Lebanese environment minister Yacoub Sarraf could only helplessly watch fuel oil from the bombed Jiyyeh power station spread along the coast. The station was hit by Israeli jets on July 13 and 15.

""We cannot get equipment, companies, labour or know-how to handle the problem," Sarraff told BBC science and nature reporter Mark Kinver on August 8. "Intervention can help most within the first 48 to 72 hours after a spill. We are already 20 days too late."

The spill was still spreading, unchecked, when ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press two weeks later. Poisoned fish reportedly washed ashore along the length of Lebanon.