Export of Saker Falcons

From the Mongolian newspaper 'Daily News', Wednesday, 8 August 2007, page 21, by L. Molomjamts: “Export of Falcon”

Abstract The Environmental Minister has recently issued an order to export 240 falcons to Arabian countries. The Government set a limit on the number of falcons to be exported as 300 annually. Each of the falcons cost US$ 9800 and of which US$ 800 goes to the soum (district) where the falcon was caught. The standard fee of one falcon is US$ 10,000 in Mongolia. Currently Kuwait and Arabian Emirates are launched trade agreements to purchase falcons from Mongolia.

The abstract was supplied by the GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) Program "Conservation and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources".

The Saker Falcon is globally threatened and listed as “Endangered” by IUCN (2007 IUCN Red List, as evaluated by BirdLife International - the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN). Justification: "This species qualifies as Endangered because it has undergone a very rapid population decline, particularly on the central Asian breeding grounds, owing to inadequately controlled capture for the falconry trade."

300 Saker Falcons represent about 3-4% of the global population of the species. Between 1990 and 2003 Saker Falcon has been estimated to have declined by 59 % in Mongolia. Source: BirdLife Species Factsheet (accessed 16 Aug 2007).


Saker Falcon, Khovd.
Photo © A. Braunlich

It should be noted that the falcons are mainly used for hunting Houbara Bustard, a species which is also globally threatened. "It is classified as Vulnerable because it has undergone rapid population declines estimated to be 35% over three generations, owing largely to unsustainable hunting levels." source: BirdLife Species Factsheet (accessed 16 Aug 2007).