Fund to promote role of houbaras in local culture

Abu Dhabi, Dec 15, 2011 (WAM) - The International Fund for Houbara Conservation (IFHC) has yesterday announced to promote the crucial role of the houbara bustard in ensuring the culture and traditions of falconry at the falconry festival in Al Ain. The fund will present on Saturday (December 17) an overview of the IFHC and falconry in the Middle East, and the scientific ecological findings and the knowledge of falconers. "Although the focus of the festival is on falconry, we need to recognise the role of the houbara in our culture and traditions and in bringing balance to our environment," said Mohammad Saleh Al Baidani, Director General IFHC. Restoring sustainable wild population of the houbara bustard, he said, will return the ecosystem for future generations. This will benefit not only falconers, but the whole community. "As long as the houbara is at risk, the future of traditional falconry is also at risk," he added. Reduced The population of houbara bustard has dramatically reduced by illegal hunting, poaching and human development. The houbara is now listed on the IUCN's list of endangered and threatened species. Al Baidani said the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, a keen falconer, first noticed that the numbers of houbaras in the wild were decreasing at an alarming rate. "He established a captive-breeding programme for houbaras in the late 1970s to try and reverse this problem and IFHC was formed in 2006 to oversee and coordinate these efforts," he said. Since that time, he said, a global strategy run by the IFHC has bred 89,549 Asian and North African houbaras, of which 57,115 have been released into the wild. The target is to breed and release 50,000 of them per year. – Gulf News