Dubai breeder’s birds have the hunting instincts that could help to kill falcon smuggling
▶ Mohammed Al Kamda wants to show that his birds bred in captivity are as fast and skilful as any smuggled wild bird
Incentives are high for smuggling wild falcon chicks and eggs into the Middle East, where the finest birds can cost Dh1 million.
The underground trade is putting the future of prized peregrine falcons and other birds of prey at risk.
But one Emirati breeder hopes his efforts may help to put a stop to the problem. Mohammed Al Kamda hopes to decrease smuggling rates by showing that he can produce birds bred from captive stock that are of equal quality to wild falcons.
“The demand for falcon trafficking has been driven by the belief that wild birds perform better as hunters,” Mr Al Kamda said. “In the 1980s captive-bred falcons were more like chickens, so why would people want those rather than a wild falcon with natural hunting instincts?
“The question has always been how to get captivity-bred falcons to perform as well as wild birds do.”
At his breeding centre in Al Awir, on the edge of the Dubai desert, Mr Al Kamda has eight chambers where bred chicks can learn to fly and develop in much the same way as wild birds.
Wild peregrine falcons are no longer listed as endangered, as they were in the 1970s, thanks to captive breeding programmes.
Inspectors from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland recently confirmed peregrines were being poached by smugglers for the Middle East market.
Wild falcon chicks can command tens of thousands of dirhams in fees in the region. In 2016, the royal society recorded robberies of 16 peregrine chick from nests in the UK.
Mr Al Kamda has two males and six female gyrfalcons, the largest falcon species, to produce chicks using artificial insemination techniques he says are the best in the region.
He says that if those techniques were adopted more widely, captive-bred birds could produce young of the highest quality, reducing the demand for wild birds.
By replicating natural hunting techniques adult birds teach their young, he claims he can develop birds that are as fast and skilful as wild falcons.
“We have developed a way for these birds to learn how to fly freely as they would do in the wild,” Mr Al Kamda said. “Young birds just want to be fed by their parents, then they begin to learn from the environment around them.
“They learn how to hunt and return to us as if it is their nest. Birds born in the wild or in captivity have the same instincts.
“You don’t have to spend a fortune. Understanding and learning how they train naturally in the wild is very effective.”
The UAE legally imports more than 3,500 falcons bred in captivity each year, but the country is also used by smugglers as a transit centre for the rest of the region.
Between 2009 and last year, the UAE topped a global list of birds trafficked through airports, with 35 recorded cases. Brazil and the US registered the second highest number over the same period with 23 each.
The most recent analysis by international wildlife monitors Traffic shows that every known bird seizure linked to the Middle East last year involved falcons.
One recent falcon trafficking case originated in Kiev, Ukraine, and was destined for Dubai. Three falcons were given sleeping pills, bound with tape and hidden in a modified suitcase with ice packs.
“One facility like mine will not wipe out the wild falcon smuggling overnight but it can help,” Mr Al Kamda said. “Hopefully others will prefer this method in future.
“Last year one of my birds caught a flamingo. It is fearless. One in 1,000 birds would have this instinct.”
With falconry at the heart of Emirati heritage and a symbol of national identity, breeding has become big business in the UAE.
The International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey is a non-profit organisation founded to preserve the art of falconry.
It has 115 clubs and falconry institutions in more than 90 countries, representing more than 70,000 falconers around the world.
The Emirates Falconers’ Club has been integral in preserving falconry in the UAE through the Sheikh Zayed Programme by releasing more than 1,600 of the birds into the wild, and establishing the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital.
In October, Majid Al Mansouri, secretary general of the club, was elected as president of the international association.
“The UAE’s leadership of the IAF is an extension of the efforts of Sheikh Zayed, the first falconer and one of the most important environmentalists in the world,” Mr Al Mansouri said.
“His vision reached what modern nature protectors later defined as sustainable hunting.”
They learn how to hunt and return. Birds born in the wild or in captivity have the same instincts MOHAMMED AL KAMDA Falcon breeder