It’s been over a decade since the UAE began a conservation programme for endangered wild falcons, encouraging falconers to use captive bred falcons instead.
To date, over 3,500 falcons were born in breeding farms in UAE and they are considered just as agile as the wild birds.
Their journey from wild, lone hunters to complex relationships with human beings, particularly over the Arab sky and land, is being discussed in a three-day conference – Falconry in the Mediterranean Context – at the New York University Abu Dhabi, which began on Sunday.
According to Majed Ali Al Mansouri, vice president of the International Association of Falconry – Mena region and executive director of Emirates Falconers Club, the UAE began protecting wild falcons as early as 1995, when Shaikh Zayed Falcon Release Programme, run by the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital (ADFH) was established. Details