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8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 3 MARCH 2021 NEWS FALCONRY has been around for thou- sands of years, being the oldest form of consumptive use of renewable natural resources. Peregrine falcons in particular are the fastest bird, and when in a dive, diving over 320 km per hour, they are the fastest animal on Earth. These birds are intelligent, but form a bond with their owners: being set free yet finding their way back again and again. And there is a certain emotional weight that comes with this bond. Indeed, witnessing the bond between a falconer and their falcon is something that's difficult to put into words. There's nothing like the feeling of pride and when your bird takes a dive or pure joy when they come back, veteran falcon- er Marco Aquilina told MaltaToday. This bond does not form overnight, however, and it needs to be sustained. Aquilina explained that the falcon needs to be trained every single day, and that feeding time is an art of its own. "Unlike other pets like dogs, who come to their owners out of a sense of loyalty, in this case there is no loyalty. Instead, the falconer needs to create a bond so that bit by bit, the bird will start to trust him, knowing that she will taken care of her. This is a technique that man discovered 4,000 years ago, a long process of bonding that requires him to spend many hours a day in order to foster it," he said. Equipped with a GPS and whistle, Aq- uilina explained the process: the falconer starts off with exercises in order to train the bird to respond to their call. Once she's trained to do this, it's time to start flying. By law, the bird needs to be tracked by GPS. "This is the hardest bit… letting the bird go, and knowing that she might not come back. You can work for so long on something in order to perfect it, and then lose it in an instant," he said. Falconers look for cliffs against the wind, in order to take advantage of thermal up- lift winds which is what falcons naturally look for. "We try to find areas which are not only suitable for flight but that also do not in- terfere with other activities that may be going on, in order to ensure that a balance is kept," Aquilina said. Malta Falconers Club (MFC) President Lucas Micallef said that falconry has very strong ties to Malta: hence the Maltese falcon. When the Maltese islands were hand- ed over to the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem by the King of Spain, Charles V, part of the islands' remittance was a wild peregrine falcon that would be captured from the Dingli Cliffs area and presented to the king annually. This his- toric annual event earned this falcon the title of Maltese Falcon. Micallef said that in 2015, when the MFC was established, they believed that falconry as a practice which should be regulated, and began talks with govern- ment to this end. "In 2016, Government published this legislation and the International Associ- ation for Falconry (IAF) endorsed this as the best type of legislation in Europe. In fact, today Denmark and Greece have fol- lowed suit, using the same legislation," he said. "In 2016, Falconry was also included by UNESCO as intangible cultural herit- age of humanity. Finally, the art of falcon- ry was inscribed on Malta's national in- ventory list as intangible cultural heritage in 2019." In 2020, Government re-confirmed its endorsement for falconry, with environ- ment minister Aaron Farrugia saying that falconry was nowadays synonymous with nature conservation and management and related educational issues. Farrugia said that that falconry tech- niques were widely used in conservation and rehabilitation of birds of prey — for repopulation, reinforcement or reintro- duction. He spoke of other sustainable effects and uses of falconry, explaining that it could minimise the negative impacts of certain human activities on natural hab- itats, leading to less trampling, habitat modification, or the use of pesticides for pest control. In fact, ERA has already approved in 2019 and 2020 a pest control pilot to be carried out in Comino, so as to assess the possibility of using such a system for the control of pest populations of the islands. This is seen as a more proactive approach rather than the use of chemicals or cull- ing. Falconry is conservationist in nature in many ways, in fact. "One can often see birds of prey cross- ing our islands. The technique of falconry is also used for the rehabilitation of birds which would have suffered some type of incident or injury during migration, so falconers, through their practice, are able to rehabilitate these species so that they can continue on their journey," Micallef said. Micallef spoke of the significance of sports such as falconry in education, es- pecially for children, with the focus on the evolution of birds of prey. The MFC, apart from being involved in various cultural and historical events, also involves itself in regular school visits and participation with youth organisations, as educating young people raises awareness not only on the magnificence of these birds but also the importance of protect- ing them. Unfortunately, wind farms, high voltage wire accidents, feeding on poisoned car- casses, and habitat destruction are threat- ening birds of prey. "Being on the top of the food chain, fal- 'Every time you release your falcon, there's a chance you'll never see her again. It's a gut-wrenching feeling. But the moment you see her coming back to you… those emotions are beyond words,' falconer Marco Aquilina tells MaltaToday The falcon and her master