Houbaras are in demand because falcon trainers use them for their falcons to practice on. Al-Mansouri says this could contribute to extinction.
"We estimated that more that 7,000 houbara come to the Arabian peninsula just from Pakistan."
"So imagine Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, all these countries where people smuggle houbara from. We are talking about big numbers, more than 10,000 per year to the Arabian peninsula."
The UAE government has spent millions of dollars and 12 years developing a houbara breeding program, and this year six captive bred houbaras will be released into the wild for the first time. In addition to the US$6.5 million the government spends each year for this program, the president is trying to set an example.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the UAE's president has been an active falconer, and for the last nine years has sponsored the release of wild falcons confiscated from smugglers or donated by wealthy sheiks.
"It's not only that we want to hunt, but to preserve a culture," Al-Mansouri says.
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