Release target Asian Houbara exceeded

The IFHC stand this year features live houbara, and a play performed by primary and middle school students at the Al Yaher Public School. Educating future hunters and falconers is our main focus this year which is why we are working closely with the Abu Dhabi Education Council and would like to see more schools taking an interest in the houbara. Some hunters are poaching the houbara by killing it using shotguns, giving the bird a zero survival chance in that case on  opposed  to the slight chance of escape the houbara gets when being hunted by a falcon. A reason for this is the difference in mentality that modern hunters have as opposed to their forefathers who grew up in harsh conditions and were accustomed to giving back to nature as much as they took from it. With its own independent stand for the first time this year at the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition (ADIHEX), the International Fund for Houbara Conservation (IFHC) announced it has exceeded yearly expectations of Asian Houbara release into the wild. This year has been remarkable to us in terms of success. The survey will indicate how many wild birds are trapped and which areas require the reintroduction programme. We believe that some people are overhunting in some places, that some people are not using the traditional method of hunting and are using shotguns. The survey will give clues to past houbara behavior. This will hopefully mean houbara will not be taken from the wild to train falcons. The hunting exhibition is the best place to help us be in contact as much as we can with falconers, and this gives us a very good indication of the hunting pressure and the problems these birds are facing.