Through the Qatar falcon hospital, which has two locations, one in Doha, the capital, and another in Al Khor, 44 kilometers away, more than 20,000 specimens pass each year - from the emirate and neighboring countries.
The price of one of these birds, which the Qataris use to hunt, ranges from 100 euros to more than 160,000 and they can live between five and 30 years.
When they get sick, break a bone or a feather while hunting, the Qataris take them to Dr. Ikdam Majed Al Karhhi, who speaks passionately about his patients.
"I love all birds, but I think hawks have super powers," he explains in the center's laboratory, which has four floors and 43 different treatment units.
“They have huge eyes, with four lenses: two panoramic and two zoom.
With the same clarity that we see our feet,
they see a rabbit 10 kilometers away.
In proportion, its heart is four times bigger than ours, and it is the fastest animal in the world: up to 320 kilometers per hour.
No two are alike, their feathers are like human fingerprints, unique, and they have different positions, for braking and maneuvering, like airplane flaps.
A scratch on one of them can affect its effectiveness in hunting, that's why the most important part of the hospital is a huge locker full of feathers, the ID of the patients.
But the most fascinating thing about these birds, Ikdam explains, is their behavior.
Every day they go hunting with their owner they have the opportunity to run away, but they never do.
“Why do they give up their freedom when they can escape?
Because they establish very strong bonds with their owners and their owners with them.
They eat and train together.
If they go by car, the hawk sits in the passenger's seat, recognizes his voice and is calm before him, but if another tries to touch it, it can become aggressive.
When you go hunting with him,
It's like going to see your son play a soccer game: you want him to win.
And he makes an effort to make you proud by taking the best piece”.
Staff from the Al Khor Falcon Hospital in Qatar prepare a falcon for an X-ray.
The X-ray unit is interfaced with the main clinical X-ray monitor in the main clinic so that falcon owners can view x-rays and interact with clinicians to monitor their falcon's clinical condition, treatment plan, and results. aftercare without having to go to the hospitalization section.
A man takes his falcon for a checkup at the Al Khor Falcon Hospital in Qatar.
The preliminary testing laboratory offers fecal testing, culture cytology, hematology, and blood lead analysis.
For this, it has 4 microscopes, a blood cell counter and a blood lead analysis machine.
Jaime Villanueva
A doctor from the Al Khor Falcon Hospital in Qatar checks one of the falcons that has recently arrived at the center.
Soft tissue surgeries include the treatment of simple wounds of all types, common keel injuries to complex surgeries and culture surgeries.
Jaime Villanueva
Staff from the Al Khor Falcon Hospital, in Qatar, take a blood sample from a falcon that has recently arrived at the center.
Due to the special anatomical characteristics of the skin of birds, they are very prone to extensive devitalization, early desiccation and necrosis.
Therefore, all surgical intervention must be performed in due time for a favorable recovery.
Jaime Villanueva
Medicines to treat falcons at the Al Khor Falcon Hospital in Qatar.
Hawks are often with other hawks or even in close proximity to humans.
Therefore, the chances of contagion of a communicable disease increase.
Jaime Villanueva
A hospital worker studies an x-ray that has just been done on a peregrine falcon.
Improvements in veterinary medicine, husbandry, husbandry, and advances in falconry techniques and equipment have modernized the sport of falconry.
Jaime Villanueva
One of the falcons that is going to be operated on receives anesthesia before surgery, at the Al Khor Falcon Hospital, in Qatar.
Jaime Villanueva
A shop keeper in the souk places a hood on the head of a kestrel.
Like many other countries, Qatar has also been a CITES Member State since August 2001, complying with its regulations to prohibit the illegal transport and capture of wild falcons during their migration.
Jaime Villanueva
Boxes with rings to identify falcons at the Al Khor Falcon Hospital in Qatar.
Owners can have their name and phone number engraved on a band that is attached to the falcon's leg.
Different sizes and colors are available.
Jaime Villanueva
Different types of falcons on sale in the Doha souk.
Falcons are still used today for the same reason as long ago: to hunt.
Although at present falconry has become a consolidated sport, a worthy pastime and a test of international trade.Jaime Villanueva
What they treat the most in the hospital are fractures and damage to the feathers.
Twice a year, hawks also need a thorough pedicure.
The center of Doha, which is coordinated by the smiling Noor Abou Qamar, is in the market, surrounded by shops that sell them and before confirming the purchase, customers usually take them to Ikdam for a kind of ITV.
Asked about the waiting list when a hawk needs a surgical operation, the doctor is surprised.
When explaining to him that in Spain humans usually have to wait for less urgent interventions, he replies: "Here they bring the bird to us, we check what's wrong with it, we make the diagnosis and in most cases we intervene in a maximum of one hour." ”.
The night of hospital admission costs about four euros, including medication and food.
Although most are used for hunting, there are also falcons that, "if they are very pretty," explains Ikdam, are used for exhibitions, for contests such as those for purebred dogs.
In a country where only 15% of its inhabitants are native, falconry is one of its few hallmarks.
It was the Bedouins who introduced the practice to the country, as a way of contributing to the feeding of the desert nomads.
In the Al Khor hospital, a Spanish falcon, Leo, is admitted.
Misnad Al Mohanadi explains that in Spain there are also many falcon farms and that they have a very good reputation.
"But he didn't give her time to learn Spanish," he jokes.
On the day of the first match of the World Cup, which pitted Qatar against Ecuador, Misnad went to the desert with one of his falcons, he flew the flag of the two countries with two drones,
and he let his favorite bird catch one of them in flight.
The animal, which seems to know its owner well, brought him the rival's.
On the grass of the Al Bayt stadium, however, he won Ecuador.
By the way, looking for the center of Al Khor, this journalist and the photographer Jaime Villanueva got lost and accidentally entered a private residence.
After scaring him to death, the owner asked us for permission to take a picture, brought us dates and coffee and, disappointed that we were in a hurry, he asked us to let him know if we needed anything.
inadvertently, in a private residence.
After scaring him to death, the owner asked permission to take a picture of us, brought us dates and coffee and, disappointed that we were in a hurry, asked us to let him know if we needed anything.
inadvertently, in a private residence.
After scaring him to death, the owner asked permission to take a picture of us, brought us dates and coffee and, disappointed that we were in a hurry, asked us to let him know if we needed anything.
Entrance to the Falcon Hospital in Al Khor, Qatar, which works hand in hand with the Souk Wakif Hospital in Doha.
For the Arabs, falconry was a way of life in which all households, regardless of social or tribal status, enjoyed the presence of falcons around them.
In some cases, the hawk was considered part of the family.
Jaime Villanueva
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