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Spare the saker

ABU DHABI— The wild Saker is a favourite among Arab falconers, but its time may be up and unless falconers switch to farm-bred birds, the Saker will soon become severely endangered.

‘Stop using the wild Saker’ altogether was the general recommendation reached at the end of the three-day meeting here by national and international environmentalists and falcon specialists, organized by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi on the topic of saving the wild saker falcon from decline.

The “Saudi Arabia initiative to develop a regional action plan with Bird Life Middle East involving end users in the Middle East” was one of the main pledges taken by the meeting participants.

Another was to establish falconry associations in the Arab countries to establish a data-base and educate and inform falconers about conservation issues.

Margit Muller, director of the Falcon Hospital in Abu Dhabi, explained that using farm-bread falcons instead of wild birds is better and more cost-effective for falconers.

Mix species such as gyr-peregrine tend to be superior hunters to pure-bred falcons.

“Hybrid falcons are less affected by diseases, adapt better in captivity and live longer,” said Dr. Muller.

In the UAE switching from wild to farm-bred falcons was an initiative by late Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who established the Falcon Release Programme and was the first to donate his wild birds to be trained and released back into the wild. From hundreds of donated or illegally captured falcons every year, the number of wild birds was reduced to several dozens annually.

“This year we received 70 falcons, but we are still taking in falcons for the 2009 release for another couple of months,” Dr Muller said.

She admitted that the number is higher than last year, and this is because there were more injured and old birds, which the owners could no longer use for hunting.

“Also, many of the falcons we received come from outside UAE,” said Dr Muller.

Out of the 70 wild falcons, about 20 are Saker.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com

Exploring the heart of falconry

There’s a lot more to falcons than their looks and beautiful eyes. For the UAE, the falcon has always been a symbol of pride and endurance.

Falconry, a sport that uses falcons to hunt or pursue game, has long been the sport of choice for the Emirati people.

Once the falcon shouts, which sounds like “Yalla”, and spreads his wings, he shoots through the sky with speed and enormous power returning triumphantly with his falconer’s prey.

The female falcon is primarily used for hunting, as it is larger and more powerful than its male counterpart.

Training a falcon requires patience, skill, devotion as well as courage. It is that control which the falconer has over the falcon that makes falconry the UAE’s favourite traditional sport.

Usually you would see a leather mask covering the falcon’s eyes. That leather mask is called the “Burgu”.

It is used because falcons have such strong eye sight, allowing him to easily be distracted by potential prey sitting miles and miles away.

Some falcons have been found to have a visual acuity of 2.6 times that of a human.

Also the resting wooden stand of the falcon is called the “Wakir”. The leather wrapping which is usually seen on the falconers hand is called the “Mungalah”

During the hunt, the falcon would either take off from the wakir or the mungalah, pursuing his prey.

Upon catching it, the falconer would chase the falcon and distract him with another prey which he presents from a hidden bag. Once the falcon has eaten his prey, the falconer would quickly chain the falcon preventing him from flying again.

Falcons are known to be purchased for Dhs5,000 up to Dhs 500,000 based on their origin, age, strength and size.

ibrahim@khaleejtimes.com