Its history in the region dates back nearly 4,000 years
Falconry ... are authentic values passed down to generations of the Emirates
Sheikh Zayed gave falcons and their protection a high priority, as they support the ancient Emirati heritage and preserve the environment and wildlife.
The National Archives
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Through a long history;
Falconry and falconry occupied a distinctive place in the Arab heritage, as it was practiced by the people of the Arabian Peninsula for nearly 4000 years, and it still enjoys the same status at the present time, despite the development and changes that the world has witnessed in the system of life, where the people of the Emirates were keen to adhere to them, and in all The vocabulary of their heritage that they inherited from parents and grandparents, as the UAE paid great attention to falconry and falcons, because of the noble values and original qualities associated with them, such as: courage, pride, humility and teamwork among hunters, and the state was also concerned at the same time to preserve nature and sustainable hunting.
Zayed the First Falconer
With the celebration of the International Falconry Day, which falls on November 16 of each year, the name of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may God bless him and grant him peace, must be highlighted, due to his association with this sport since his childhood and his pride in it, and for the interest, care and unique initiatives he gave to it, so he deservedly deserved The title “the first falconer”, and the importance of falconry for Sheikh Zayed is evident in his writing of a special book about it, entitled: “The sport of falconry”, in which he dealt with his relationship with this sport, which he began to learn when he was 12 years old, and was hunting with a rifle. He depends when he hits the rifle on a cover or anything else, and when he reached the age of 16, he had learned to hunt with falcons, so he began to hunt with both of them at times with the rifle and the falcon at times.
According to what is mentioned in the book.
turning point
In the book, Sheikh Zayed narrates an incident that was a point in his relationship with hunting, saying: “When I reached the age of 25, I had learned the basics of hunting and its arts, at this time I preferred falconry over anything else, and I gave up on using the rifle in hunting animals, and this was a transformation. A reason for myself, one day I went for a hunting trip in the wilds, and the game was an abundant herd of antelopes filling the place from every side. Rather, it is a campaign against the animal and a quick cause that leads to its extinction, so I changed my mind and settled for falconry. ”
Since that time, he has worked, may God rest his soul, on applying the concept of sustainability and preserving the environment, through many initiatives that he launched, such as organizing the first international falconry and nature conservation conference in Abu Dhabi in 1976, which brought together for the first time falconers from different places in the world .
He also worked to spread awareness among UAE falconers, to acquire falcons that breed in captivity, instead of wild falcons, which reduced the negative impact of falcon sport on wild breeds.
In 1989, the National Center for Bird Research began its ambitious program to breed the important Asian Houbara for falconry. Then the program developed into a "International Fund for Houbara Conservation", which worked to achieve a long-term goal set by Sheikh Zayed to produce 10,000 Asian Houbara birds annually, and release most of them. To increase the numbers of wild groups.
Multiple initiatives
In 1995, the late Sheikh Zayed launched a falcon release program, and his idea was to release wild falcons and return them to nature in order to preserve the wild falcon populations.
The Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital was also established by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, to be the first public facility in the UAE to provide comprehensive veterinary health care services for falcons only, and it was inaugurated on the third of October 1999, to become the largest hospital for falcons in the United Arab Emirates and the world.
As the flow of patients to the hospital exceeded 110,000 patients since its inception, the hospital also took over the medical supervision of the falcon release program, by rehabilitating these falcons for their release, and the falcons are released again into the wild as part of an ambitious research program to understand whether migratory birds are such as falcons. Shaheen and Hur, can keep the same migration path after being used for hunting.
These initiatives also included the declaration of the Emirates Falconers Club on September 24, 2001, with the aim of passing on the legacy of the ancestors in this field to future generations, serving the state and Gulf falconers, preserving falcons and quarries from extinction, and spreading awareness about sustainable hunting methods and the ethics of falconry.
The year 2003 witnessed the launch of the first edition of the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition, and it was visited by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, where he, may God bless him and grant him peace, ordered that the exhibition be turned into an international exhibition, to be held annually in Abu Dhabi.
On the approach of Zayed
Following in the footsteps of Zayed, the UAE continued its interest in hunting and equestrian sports, and in 2010 it succeeded in registering falconry in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), within the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, and in 2010 it obtained global recognition as a cultural heritage. Humanitarian, authentic and distinguished heritage.
In 2018, the UAE won the presidency of the International Federation of Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (IAF), after being elected by a majority of the members at the end of the General Assembly, which was held on October 22 of that year in the city of Bamberg, Germany.
The UAE has also launched the Falconry Archive project in the Middle East to document and preserve the written heritage of falconry in the region, and to revive interest in ancient historical literature on Arab falconry, to serve as an integrated library of unique heritage of scientific documents and references in this field.
In December 2016, the "Mohammed bin Zayed School for Falconry and Desert Physiology" was inaugurated, which seeks to raise awareness of the value of falconry as a common human heritage and art, implanting the correct principles and practices of Arab falconry in young people, promoting sustainable traditions of Arab falconry, and spreading the principles and ethics of Arab falconry at the global level. And enhancing the heritage character of falconry and presenting it as an important heritage and cultural destination in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The UAE’s efforts in the field of preserving falconry and falcons also included the launch of the Mohammed bin Zayed Fund for the Conservation of Raptors, with an initial funding of $ 20 million, to implement conservation projects for raptors, in cooperation with many international and national partners.
Sheikh Zayed launched a program to release falcons and return them to nature to preserve wild populations.
2018
The UAE won the presidency of the International Falconry Federation.
2010
Falconry has been registered in “UNESCO”.
2016
The Mohammed bin Zayed School for Falconry and Desert Physiognomy was opened.
Sheikh Zayed worked to implement the concept of sustainability and environmental conservation.
«Memory of the Nation»
A weekly page provided by "Emirates Today", in cooperation with the "National Archives", affiliated with the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, with the aim of introducing the way life in the Emirates before the federation, and during its early beginnings, and the great effort made by the founding fathers of the state for its establishment, and linking it to what the UAE leaders achieve, Today, her children are among the achievements the world has witnessed.
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