Falco 27 - International Wildlife Consultants Ltd.

of wild falcons. Such changes would be facilitatedby better organisation of the sport of falconry andnew laws relating to hunting with falcons. Falconersshould be encouraged to take part in organised falconreleasing programs, and to release their wild-caughtfalcons after the end of the hunting season as wastraditionally practiced. In this respect, there should belaws defining the period when wild-caught falcons canbe kept in captivity.Figure 2. Jabal Al-Khitam, Madinah Districtof falconry sport and the other is to make money byselling falcons. The respondents to the questionnairesfelt that the current decrease in the number of wildfalcons in Saudi Arabia might be caused by severalfactors. Respondents indicated that there are too many“falcon trappers”, which are driven by the high valueof falcons, whilst others felt the decline might be aresult of people keeping falcons in captivity for longperiods, rather than releasing them after the huntingseason as was traditionally practiced. Falconers andtrappers had some positive ideas as to measures thatcould be implemented to halt the continued decline inthe number of falcons in Arabia, which included theintroduction of identification cards for falcons andfalconers, defining the period of keeping falcons incaptivity, defining the value of hunting falcon in SaudiRiyals, the establishment of centres for captive breedingof falcons and clubs for falconers.DiscussionConservation and protection methods:The problem of the declining falcon population inSaudi Arabia can be resolved by cooperation betweenpeople in the falconry business and the government, inorder to produce a joint plan to address this problem.Recommendations include, increasing public awarenessof the problem, particularly with those who possessfalcons, and to introduce the importance of falconry topublic via magazines and television media. It wouldbe beneficial if the monetary value of hunting falconswere defined.Increasing the numbers of captive-bred hunting falconsavailable might reduce the demand for wild falcons.This could be achieved though the establishment offalcon breeding centres specifically producing birdsfor the falconry market. In conjunction laws couldbe passed either preventing or regulating the captureAs well as protection of the falcons, it is also vital thatany conservation programme includes some form ofprotection for the traditional falconry quarry species.This could be done by establishing protected areasto increasing the numbers of important species suchas Houbara Bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii, StoneCurlew Burhinus oedicnemus and Arabian Hare Lepusarabicus.Figure 3. Barbary Falcon nestling with two unhatched eggsAcknowledgementsFirst of all, all praise is to Allah my God for that help Hegave me to finish this dissertation. I would like to takethis opportunity to thank all those who contributed to myresearch by any means, help, advice, recommendationsand so on. I would like to thank my MA supervisor Dr.Hassan Mahfooz Felimban for every single effort hemade and for his help, recommendations and very nicefeedbacks. Without his help, I would not do such a nicea research. I would like to extend my best greetings andthanks to all falconers who helped me in my research; Abed Marzook Al rashidi , Moateq Thowaiher Alrashidi , Thari Marzook Al rashidi and Mosaad Althaalobi. Thanks are also extended to my colleagues;Mr.Aboamr Al ghamdi , Mr. Soliman Abdullah Alroman, Mr. Youssef Maqboul Al rashidi , Mr. SalemMoateaq Al rashidi and Mr. Youssef D. Al asmary. Forall the above mentioned and many others, I want to saywithout your help I would have suffered greatly.11