A Polish charity has received an exorbitant phone bill after a white stork lost its tracker.

The tracker, which was put on the stork last year, showed that he covered a distance of over 6,000 kilometres since flying out of the central eastern Polish town of Siedlce.

The bird settled in the Blue Nile Valley in Sudan in February before he, and the tracker, were reported missing.

According to EcoLogic, as cited by Polish daily Super Express, somebody found the tracker in Sudan, took out a sim card and put it in their phone before making 20 hours worth of phone calls, worth in excess of PLN 10,000 (USD 2,700 USD, EUR 2,300 EUR) which environmental organisation EcoLogic Group will have to pay. (pm/vb)