‘No physical harm is caused to them’: Tens of thousands of cranes stay in northern Israel’s Hula Valley over the winter and cause serious damage to agricultural produce, prompting the Nature and Parks Authority to work with the JNF on finding a solution
Zafrir Rinat. Dec 23, 2024
A new method has been developed for chasing cranes away from the Hula Valley: a combined laser beam. The system, which deters the cranes by means of a moving spot of light and without harming them, is designed to help farmers to preserve their crop and to divert the birds to the feeding station in the Hula Basin.
Tens of thousands of cranes remain in the Hula Valleyevery winter and choose not to continue their southward migration. During this period they find their food in the fields of the Galilee panhandle, and in doing so cause serious damage to the agricultural produce.
In an effort to deal with the phenomenon, already 25 years ago a feeding station was set up in the Hula Basin. Now, in order to improve the protection of the fields, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) is in the advanced stages of examining a new laser technology. This is a method that has been tested so far in a small number of places in the world, and is meant to deter the cranes without harming them.
The farmers are trying to divert the cranes from the fields to the feeding site through various activities, including blinding them with mirrors and creating the sound of explosions using gas cannons. “This is very expensive activity that’s also problematic in ecological terms,” says Yaron Cherka, the head ornithologist of the JNF. “It creates a noise blight that keeps away not only the cranes, but all the animals in the area. It also harms the quality of life of people living in the valley and disturbs the tourists who come to hike here.”
About five years ago, with the approval of the Nature and Parks Authority, and in coordination with them, the JNF decided to examine a cheaper and quieter method. It’s a remotely controlled installation that during its operation emits a laser beam to the areas where cranes are found. The beam creates a spot of light that moves quickly in the direction of the birds and causes them to flee.
“The cranes see something advancing in their direction. Even if it’s only a spot of light, they’re afraid and flee. No physical harm is caused to them,” stresses Cherka. To prove that, he notes that in the four years of the pilot program not a single crane arrived with a laser injury to the site for treating injured wild animals in the Hula Basin.
At the start of the pilot it turned out that the laser causes the cranes to flee in all weather conditions. At the same time it became evident that in order to activate the system effectively, there’s a need for a large number of installations and photography equipment. Therefore, it was decided to add several improvements to the system.
Last year Avant-Garde eco-technological solutions, which is in charge of the laser system, was joined by ThirdEye, which specializes in operating electro-optical equipment used for security purposes among other things, such as identifying drones with the help of artificial intelligence.
“It’s a system that’s supposed to work automatically and to activate the beam only after identifying cranes,” notes Cherka. “At the moment there’s only one drawback – you have to make sure that no human beings will be exposed to it. Regulations forbid exposing people to a beam of such intensity. Therefore, it’s possible that there will be a need for a human operator who will ensure that there are no people in the area. We’re close to solving that and hope that already next year this system will be in operation.”
Diverting the cranes to the feeding station presents the JNF and the Nature and Parks Authority with another problem: the crowding of cranes and an increased risk of the spread of avian flu. Incidentally, for that reason, last year the feeding of the cranes was stopped entirely.
A year earlier, a team of experts from the government ministries and nature conservation organizations recommended reducing the number of cranes at the site in order to reduce the chances of another outbreak. So far, no compensation has been promised to farmers in the event that the feeding is stopped and the presence of cranes in the fields increases once again.
Cherka believes that it’s crucial to make the distancing of the cranes from agricultural fields in the Hula Valley more effective, without any connection to the continued feeding of the cranes. He says that in any scenario the cranes will continue to come to the fields and the need to distance them will remain.