Imad Murad-Doha
The passport is no longer confined to humans in Qatar, but hawks also enjoy this advantage, which allows them to travel outside the country and cross international borders, after the announcement of the Ministry of Municipality and the Environment of Qatar, a new mechanism to obtain passports.
When issued, the passport belongs to the owner of the falcon. CITES certificate from the bird exporting country.
The Hawks' passport operates in more than 160 countries and requires a CITES import permit, a falcon examination record and ownership documents, which only takes 30 minutes to obtain.
| Falcon passport can be accessed to 160 countries (Al Jazeera) |
The Ministry of Municipalities announced that its new mechanism for issuing and renewing falcons' passports is in line with the digital development, Qatar Vision 2030, and developing the work by providing a distinguished and fast service to the hawk owners.
The hawk passport was considered a document issued by the ministry and recognized internationally, and works to facilitate movement between countries, both during private travel or participation in festivals and competitions.
welcome
Some hawk owners have welcomed the new mechanism, but have called for more access to passports for birds, so that falconers can obtain as many as the falcons they raise, after the ministry limited owners to extracting only two passports.
Falcon owner Ali al-Marri says that most falconers have more than 15 birds and are allowed only two passports; which affects participation in regional and international competitions, pointing out that in certain competitions they need to take all their birds with them, in order to achieve results during the various competitions .
Qatari sniper president Ali bin Khatam al-Mehshadi described the issuance of falcon travel documents as a great achievement, saying that permanent coordination between the sniper association and the Ministry of Municipality and Environment resulted in the announcement of the new mechanism, which made it much easier for Qatari falconers to take their birds with them abroad.
Al-Mehshadi added that the new mechanism requires that the falconer obtain a passport within a short period not exceeding thirty minutes in case of the required papers, after the travel procedures of falcon abroad may continue for more than a week to obtain the required approvals.
He explained that the passport was a procedure to move between the GCC countries, and that now the owner of the falcon can travel to all countries of the world.
| Falcon owners demand passports for all their birds (Al Jazeera) |
Demands
"These requests are legitimate, and the Sniper Association will work to achieve them in the future," says Mehshadi about falcon owners' claims for a bird.
He adds that he is currently seeking to reach an agreement with Qatar Airways to raise the number of passengers per plane of falcons, and that the laws of Qatar not to exceed six falcons in the flight, pointing out that this number is insufficient in light of the widespread deployment of falcons in Qatar.
In November 2010, UNESCO listed falconry as a folklore, and considered the sport to be associated with many traditions preserved by its communities and clubs.