A project has been launched to preserve the falcon population in Kazakhstan. 41 birds will soon be uncaged there on a praiseworthy initiative of the Falcon Centre under Prince Sultan ibn Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia's Defence Minister, the daily al-Riyadh says in today's issue.
The centre appealed to falconers and falcon keepers to sacrifice their pets for dispatch to the Kazakh plains after the present hunting season is over. A total 56 birds have been ceded. Forty-one of them successfully came through veterinary examinations, and were found up to project standards. Each had an electronic chip implanted to monitor its migrations.
A team of Saudi falcon experts is departing for Kazakhstan next week to let out another batch of birds after an initial 26.
Birds of passage, a majority of falcons to appear in the Arabian Peninsula come from Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
