Why the Middle East is obsessed with falcons

The peregrine falcon faced near-extinction in the UK in the 1950s before it was rescued by the banning of the pesticide DDT and stronger legal reinforcements.

Today, following booming interest from buyers in the Middle East, modern falconry has taken a darker turn, being “fed by a shadow industry of the smuggling and illegal capture of wild birds”, said The Guardian.

‘Booming appetite’

A “troubling pattern” is emerging in the UK, said The Guardian. Peregrine falcon chicks are “vanishing” from their British cliff-edge nests, which are only accessible to people with “specialist climbing gear”, and turning up in the Middle East with “fabricated” documents.

The UK is a lucrative breeding ground for the raptors. The colder climate produces “tough, fast birds”, and those from “established lines carry additional prestige”. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, birds cannot be taken from the wild and only falcons bred in captivity can be traded.

UK exports of falcons are “soaring”, as are nest raids, though experts are keen to point out that the two aren’t necessarily linked. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds recorded 126 nests raids between 2014 and 2023, and “all are believed to be linked to the peregrine falcon trade”. In 2024, 4,000 peregrines and hybrids were exported from the UK, with the number rising to 5,000 last year, according to UK police, with nearly 90% of them heading to the United Arab Emirates.

The gyr peregrine, which has a peregrine falcon mother and a gyr falcon father, is the “most valuable falcon for export”. Many buyers chase its desirable balance between “speed and strength”, but the gyr peregrine’s female offspring are infertile, which means female peregrine falcons are in high demand to “feed a booming appetite for hybrid falcons and legally exportable, captive-bred birds”.

The “cruelly exploitative crime” of nest theft is becoming “more prevalent”, said the Daily Mail. Falcons can reach diving speeds of up to 200mph, and “the only thing faster, seemingly, is the rise in popularity of racing them”. Wild Scottish falcons in particular are “especially prized in the Middle East”, as they are considered “stronger, fiercer and faster”, and “tend to be genetically larger than Mediterranean examples”.

The gamekeepers, as well as the poachers, are to blame. Unlike the birds themselves, legislators “move slowly”, which means there is a “dark shadow hovering over Scotland’s surviving wild peregrines”.

‘Spectacle of wealth and prestige’

Traditional falconry “is more popular than ever”, said The Telegraph. The “universal reverence” for peregrines has ballooned into a “highly lucrative business”, and there are “few greater status symbols” in the Middle East than owning one. As of 2021, the President’s Cup falcon competition in the UAE “offers prizes of up to $9 million”, with other competitors winning “fleets of cars”.

The Bedouin practice has morphed into a “spectacle of wealth and prestige to meet the tastes of the modern Gulf elite”, said The Guardian. Despite the most “prestigious” birds travelling in “Range Rovers and Bentleys fitted out with a perch between the front seats”, many rarely have the chance to fly. Many kept in captivity are “treated like battery chickens” and “fed supplements to produce up to 14 eggs a season”, an expert told the paper.

The Middle East’s “appetite for wild falcons risks killing the sport they love”, said The Economist. Buyers and sellers in the Middle East have always “found ways around the rules” and bans, which has already led to the endangered status of the saker falcon – a “favoured local species in the Gulf”. Attempts to curb the market in the region often have the opposite effect, causing “prices to spike”, with the finest birds costing “more per gram than gold”.