The hunting of flamingos has sparked widespread controversy in Iraq, after a video showing hunters in the south of the country capturing the rare birds was posted on Iraqi social media, along with pictures showing people feasting on flamingo meat.
Iraqi environmentalists and naturalists have been outraged, and people have taken to the streets in some southern Iraqi cities to call for the illegal hunting in the marshes to stop. In the absence of deterrent laws or decisive action by the authorities, hunters are killing the migrant birds on a large scale. The meat is sold openly in markets. The country is considered one of the main pathways for migratory flamingos, which fly from Siberia and the coasts of northern Europe and head for the warm waters of the Iraqi marshlands.
