UrBC, Moscow, October 29, 2019. MegaFon is going to introduce a custom-designed flat rate package for the Wild Animals Rehabilitation Center based on the specifics of migratory birds’ seasonal travel, the telecom company’s press service says.

The decision was made after a female eagle named Min unexpectedly ended up in Iran and started sending out text messages about its location (costly because of the international roaming fees) back to the Center.

Now Russian ornithologists normally fit their eagles and falcons with trackers that can send a bird’s location information back to the center: this helps learn their migration routes and detect possible threats. The trackers get location info from satellites and send out a text message once the connection is strong enough.

The scientists can normally predict where the bird will be going, so they can set aside enough funds to cover the cost of text messages. This time, however, Min the eagle surprised everyone by going to Iran and spending the funds meant for thirteen different birds. The ornithologists were alarmed and started asking Russians to put more money into the SIM card account in question.

Quite a few people responded, and more than RUB 100,000 got collected almost overnight. MegaFon, in its turn, announced that whatever the bird may have spent would go on the house.

‘MegaFon intends to help. The debt will be written off, and a bespoke flat rate offer will be applied to the Wild Animals Rehabilitation Center’s SIM card accounts so as to take the birds’ migratory routes into account,’ the telecom company’s press service says.