Being a sea turtle is difficult; sharks, fishermen and a dwindling habitat have all taken their toll. Using the beaches of war-ravaged Lebanon as a nesting site has not made life any easier. So it must have felt like the final straw when the foxes turned up.

Driven from the coastal hills by the 34-day bombardment last summer, the red foxes took refuge on the last wild beach in the country. There they discovered a tasty treat in the form of the eggs of the rare green and loggerhead turtles, midway through their five-month nesting season.

This year, the turtles have returned, but so too have the foxes. “The foxes are destroying nests,” said Mona Khalil, a conservationist who has become the reptiles’ champion.

Lebanon’s woes had already led to many ups and downs for the turtles. The Israeli gun boats that patrolled offshore during the

25-year occupation of southern Lebanon kept locals off the beach at night when the turtles come ashore to nest each summer between May and October.

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