Illegal Falcon Trade: How Gulf Demand Fuels UK Bird Smuggling
The air inside the exhibition halls of Abu Dhabi’s International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition is cool, scented with oud, and heavy with money. Under the unforgiving glare of stadium-style lighting, hundreds of raptors sit motionless on leather-bound perches. They are hooded, their eyes covered by ornate leather caps often stitched with gold or silver thread,…