Rabat, Apr 12th, 2008 (WAM)--UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of Emirates Falconry Club HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, visited Emirates Centre for Wildlife Propagation, the biggest sanctuary for houbara birds in the world.
He was accompanied by Sheikh Nahyan bin Hamdan Al Nahyan and HE Dr Ali bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, board chairman of the Red Crescent Authority (RCA). Sheikh Hamdan said the houbara reproduction programme, which was set up by late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in 1977 "is yielding fruits", indicating that the instructions of late Sheikh Zayed 30 years ago to double efforts to reproduce Asian houbara at Al Ain zoo even before houbara become endangered species, succeeded in 1982 when the first houbara fledgling incubation took place in captivity in the UAE. He added that General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces, participated in the largest operation in history to set over 5000 houbara free in the wild in North Africa. These birds belong to the Emirates centre for wildlife propagation in Morocco. Sheikh Hamdan said that the freeing of houbara birds in the wild, is in line with the strategic efforts of the UAE to increase number of houbara in the nature.Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2008.
