"Sometimes you have a falcon that is really sick, but it's almost impossible for the owner to detect."
For this reason, the hospital conducts routine checkups on falcons, which usually include blood work, an X-ray, a faecal sample and checking the falcon's internal organs for problems. Falconers bring in their birds for checkups, which usually take a few hours, two to four times a year.
Sick or injured falcons can also be hospitalised at the ADFH, which, Muller says, is an official Abu Dhabi government institution.
"We can, at the moment, keep more than 150 falcons here for treatment," says Mohammed Nafeez, a research associate at the ADFH, adding that between 60 and 70 are currently in the hospital.
And birds can be boarded at the ADFH when their owners are on holiday.
The hospital also has two large aviaries to hold falcons while they are moulting, or changing their feathers.
One aviary currently holds 12 falcons, which periodically wing across the enclosure. When not in the mood for flying, the birds can sit in one of the air-conditioned rooms at each end.
Muller emphasises that the ADFH is more than just a hospital for falcons.
"We are not only treating falcons, we are doing research work on falcons," she says.
As there is no specific course of study on falcon medicine, "we have set up a special training programme for falcon medicine here in the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital," she says.
"We have a lot of veterinarians and students coming to us from all over the world to study here."
In 2006, seven years after the ADFH's foundation, it began treating other species of birds as well.
Now, the hospital treats "everything that has wings," Muller says, "from canaries until ostriches."
---Agencies
Read More
Post new comment