Survey Results

Results of the latest survey

Very many thanks to all who contributed to the survey in 2015. The first three diagrams on this page show results from the data which you provided. More information, including an Introduction and Summary of the First Year Report, is provided in documents available to you at the bottom of this page.

The first diagram shows that most replies last year came from Pakistan, and that most people who visited the web-site there undertook the survey. As a result, two names for Pakistan were drawn as winners of survey prizes, with the second prize in the United Arab Emirates and the fourth in Turkmenistan.

The second diagram shows that almost all falconers and trappers on the Arabian Peninsula take their falcons to veterinary clinics to check their health. Perhaps that is why the last diagram on this page shows long lives for birds in the first survey from the Arabian Peninsula. More falcon clinics seem to be needed to help the falconers and trappers in China and North Africa and Pakistan.

The third diagram shows that falconers in South-Central Asia and China mostly release wild Sakers after hunting with them. They still follow the traditional cultural practices that go back very many generations.

Results from the earlier survey

Each column is for how many falconers were keeping from one to seven falcons.

The following results are from a survey that was answered in 2013 by forty four falconers in the Gulf States.

Their average age was forty seven.

Half of them had been falconers for more than twenty years.

Eleven were no longer keeping falcons because there were too few prey for them to hunt.

For the falconers who were still active, the figure to the side shows how many falcons were being kept by each. Eleven falconers were keeping one falcon, and eleven were keeping two. However, one person had as many as 6 falcons and one had seven.

The columns show how many birds remained with the falconer for one to two years, three to four years,five to six years, seven to eight years, nine to ten years, eleven to twelve years and for longer.

Falconers were also asked what was the longest they had kept a bird. This lower figure shows that most falconers kept their oldest falcons for three to four years, while ten had these falcons for up to four years and one had his favourite hunting companion for 15 years. Some of the birds were still being kept, but sixty percent had been sold and a few had been released or had died.

On the web

The introduction to the First Year Report by co-chairs from Abu Dhabi and South Africa, with a written summary of the main results.