Environmentalists get claws into plans for Qatari-funded falcon-breeding centre in China
Concerns raised that the US$15 million scheme in Xinjiang will be run simply to meet lucrative demand for the birds of prey among hunters in the Middle East
Environmental activists in China have got their claws into plans for a costly breeding centre for falcons in Xinjiang, sponsored by a Qatari organisation, mainland media reported today.
The US$15 million centre, which is still being built in Aletai, in the far-west of Xinjiang, is using funds provided by a Qatari ecological and bird conservation association.
News of the plans in Xinjiang has sparked heated debate on the mainland. Environmentalists and wildlife conservationists fear the breeding centre for saker falcons – seen as a status symbol for wealthy Arabs – will be run simply to meet the demand of hunters in the Middle East.
“We don’t want to build a hunting field for rich Qataris,” one Sina Weibo microblogger wrote.
We don’t want to build a hunting field for rich Qataris
Falconry is big business throughout the Gulf states, which include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, and the most popular sport in Qatar. As a result there is huge demand to buy large, powerful birds of prey, such as rare saker falcons.