Royal Falconers In Search Of Bustards Clash With Tribesmen

Independent (UK) ^ | 11-17-2003 | Jan McGirk

[blam]

Royal falconers in search of bustards clash with tribesmen

By Jan McGirk in Islamabad
17 November 2003

Wealthy Arab sheikhs are obsessed by the houbara bustard, a gawky bird that looks like a cross between a roadrunner and a pheasant. Its plump flesh can be eaten as an aphrodisiac, but the real thrill lies in watching the feathers fly when falcons home in on them.

A curious two-way migration takes place at this time of year: tens of thousands of bustards arrive in Pakistan from Central Asia while hundreds of leather-hooded falcons, issued with their own passports, wing in on private jets from the Gulf. Arabs spend an estimated £2.4bn a year on falconry, and a pedigree bird of prey can easily cost £80,000.

But the falconers have raised hackles in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts. Khosa tribesmen, who have been banned from shooting or trapping these gamebirds for the past 30 years, apparently think it is a royal pain that visiting dignitaries can hunt bustards in their sanctuaries.

Six local gunmen on motorbikes attacked the retinue of Crown Prince Sheikh Sultan bin Hamadan al-Nuhayyan, the grandson of the Emir of the United Arab Emirates, last week. Four men were arrested.

While pitching an elaborate tent city for the sultan's hunting party, the prince's security staff allegedly drove through acres of ripening crops. Later, sparks from their campfires set some fields ablaze.

The locals complained that the bodyguards also burst into their homes and humiliated them. Some worried that the dark glasses worn by the sultan's guards could see through women's clothing. At least 100 Punjabi police officers were dispatched to prevent any more clashes.

Flocks of houbara bustards winter in southern Afghanistan, Sindh, Baluchistan, and arid parts of the Punjab, and falconers go to extravagant lengths to hunt them. The desert fowl are the traditional prey of the finest falcons, and, though the bustards once ranged from Morocco to Mongolia, numbers are dwindling. In Arabia, they have been hunted to the verge of extinction.

Allied forces in Afghanistan have scattered the migratory bustards in the past two years. Soldiers also sometimes stage raids against al-Qa'ida from the private airstrips built by Arab falconers in remote scrub near the Pakistan-Afghan border, and these are now a no-go zone. Consequently, most bustard hunting has shifted to rural Pakistan, where money spent by a two-week hunting party could sustain a village for a year.

Because some affluent hunters will pay for the privilege, Pakistani officials issue temporary permits with alacrity. They claim the extra funds are invested in conservation, welfare and development.

Conservationists released 90 bustards last spring which had been illegally trapped in Pakistan. Yet at least 8,000 live bustards annually are smuggled out of Pakistan to the Gulf, where a single bird can fetch up to £800.

With Afghanistan's skies unsafe for falcons and the Pakistani tribesmen growing resentful of privileged hunters, this may be the bustards' best chance yet for survival.

[dighton]

[blam]

Thanks for the picture. I read that they are about the size of a turkey.

[Junior]

The bustard and not the owl,
Is the wisest of the fowl.
It is saved, you see
From illegitimacy
By the grace of a fortunate vowel.

[Tax-chick]

Ah, the Scottish/Irish trout-fishing problem! There is nothing new under the sun ...

[governsleastgovernsbest]

The Royal falconers are in search of bustards? I got your bustards right here.

[ArrogantBustard]

All this time, you thought I was paranoid. But See! I told you so!!!! They really are Out To GET ME!!!!!!!!