Mongolia to export saker falcons

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The cabinet meeting on Monday amended the Government resolution No 377, issued December 1 of 2014, on Wildlife Hunting Quota for 2015. The amended resolution is to designate the quotas as follows: 350 taimens for "catch and release", 150 Mongolian antelopes and 300 birds for hunting, and 100 saker falcons for "live export". By the governmental resolution No15 issued in 2013, the export of saker falcons for profit was banned for a five-year term. However, 40 birds were exported last year for cultural purposes. Mongolia and the United Arab Emirates inked in 2011 a Memorandum of Understanding on Conservation of Carnivorous Birds for five years. In its frames, 20 soums of Tov, Khentii and Sukhbaatar aimags launched projects on improving the natural egg-laying conditions for saker falcons. As a result, a total of 5,250 artificial nests received 200 mating couples and became homes for 600 chicks in 2011, for 380 couples and 1,298 chicks in 2012, and for over 500 couples and 2,000 chicks in 2013. Considering these facts, cabinet decided that an export of 100 saker falcons will not harm the species’ population.