The market for falcons is soaring as wild populations decline

THOUGH ITS eyes are covered, the falcon looks frightened in the video. It sits frozen on its perch as a dozen excited men bid for the creature. The scene plays out in the Libyan city of Tobruk. But the bidders, phones in hand, are relaying prices to traders in the Gulf. When the offers top 1m dinars ($220,000) those in the room yell Allahu akbar (God is great). Finally the bird is sold to a man in a camouflage jacket for 2.25m dinars, making it one of the most expensive falcons in the world.

Falcons have long inspired passion among Arabs. The Bedouin used them to hunt and still recite poems extolling them. Medieval caliphs led parties into the bush to watch their falcons swoop down on game. Today Gulf royals spare no expense on such outings. With prey at home dwindling, they have began hunting abroad, in such countries as Mongolia, Morocco and Pakistan. Some call it “falcon diplomacy”.

Lately a craze for falcon-racing and beauty contests has increased demand for the birds. Falcon clubs have opened across the Arabian peninsula, some offering courses to children as young as five. Airlines in the Middle East sell seats for the birds. (A Saudi prince once filled most of a commercial jet with his flock.) Falcon ownership has tripled in the Gulf over the past decade, says Karim Rousselon of the...