Captive Breeding
Captive breeding has been encouraged to supply birds that may not be readily available from the wild. The Peregrine Falcon was believed to be rare and endangered so the access of Falconers to these birds was severely limited. There are a number of breeding projects for African Peregrines around the country that provide a supply of these birds for falconers. The surplus birds produced are released, by means of “hacking” to the wild.
It has been established that there is, indeed, a strong peregrine population in South Africa and a small sustainable harvest should be acceptable. Another incentive to captive breeding is the fear that the supply of birds from the wild may be prevented and this remains a considerable incentive to this practice. It is also true that it is easier to obtain a bird from a breeder than to go through the often arduous process of obtaining one from the wild. Captive breeding raises the specter of trading in raptors. This is a serious concern to the Falconry community, but one which we have managed to avoid, as the breeder is currently remunerated at a level which compensates him for the expenses incurred in the breeding project. Other down sides of this practice include the fact that Breeding Projects require additional birds to be held in captivity and that captive bred birds may not be always readily releasable. There remain good reasons to retain captive breeding as the source of some falconry birds:
1) The experience in captive breeding has been invaluable in restoration projects worldwide. Falconers have been involved in the restoration of the North American Peregrine, the Mauritius Kestrel and the Red Kite to name a few. Whilst there is currently no need for restoration projects here, South African Falconers are currently involved in a project to gain experience in breeding the endangered Taita falcon. We currently have experience in the breeding of at least 10 indigenous raptor species.
2) Captive breeding provides a source of birds that may not be available for harvest in a particular province or where it is deemed that the wild population may not sustain a harvest.
3) Not all falconers are able to source the bird they require from the wild for practical reasons. Similarly a captive bred bird may be as acceptable or possibly preferable to a wild –taken bird depending on the training techniques that may be employed.
