Khalifa donates 100 falcons as prizes in hunting exhibition

One hundred falcons have been donated by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan for the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition.

According to the organisers of the five-day event, beginning September 12, the falcons will be given away to visitors as prizes in raffles during the twin exhibition.

"This generous donation by the President is aimed at encouraging falconers to use captive-bred falcons instead of wild falcons, thereby conserving the wild falcon population," said Shaikh Sultan Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Protocol and Guest House Department and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the pro-falcon project.

Based in Al Ain, the pro-falcon project was established in 1996 on the initiative of Shaikh Khalifa to encourage captive-falcon breeding as part of extensive efforts by the UAE to multiply the falcon population in general.

Apart from being the largest breeding project in the Middle East, the centre is also a haven for conserving wild falcons.

The project produced 260 falcons this season. It is run by experts who are skilled in using latest technologies in hatching and captive breeding.

Last year, Shaikh Khalifa donated 70 falcons for raffle draws, which attracted many visitors. Each visitor was given a raffle coupon for every Dh300 spent at the exhibition.

"This donation demonstrates the keenness of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed on the issue of sustainable hunting.

"It is clearly a successful endeavour to strike a balance between the traditional heritage of falconry and the need for wildlife conservation," said Shaikh Sultan.

This also underscores the success of the policy of sustainable development, which was initiated by Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, he added.

He expressed optimism about the future of falcons, saying the danger of extinction had been warded off.

He also praised the efforts of wildlife and environmental agencies which, he said, succeeded in raising awareness amongst falconers.

Shaikh Sultan also took the opportunity to laud the support accorded by the President to a workshop on adopting falconry as a world cultural heritage.

"The UAE is the first country in the world to call for enlisting falconry as a world cultural heritage. Moreover, as per records, excavations and old manuscripts, the sport of falconry was known in the Arab world and the Gulf region, in particular about 7,000 years ago and afterwards spread into eastern Asia, China, Japan and Korea, Europe and North America," he said.

The workshop will be held from September 13 to 15 on the sidelines of the hunting exhibition.

The exhibition is being held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Emirates Falconers Club, the main organisers.

Organised in conjunction with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), the workshop will make the case for enlisting falconry as a world cultural heritage.

One of the aspects to be covered during the workshop is the documentation of the history of falconry and establishment of a special archive for preserving falconry.