On February 9th-10th the Slovak Falconry Club organized an international seminar on FALCONRY AND BREEDING IN 3RD MILLENNIUM on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the Slovak Falconry Club. The seminar took place in the hotel Druzba in Slovak capital Bratislava. Aside from the Slovak participants, representatives from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Poland and Great Britain gave papers and reports discussing current issues and the development of falconry - not only in Slovakia but in the rest of Europe. 

Dr. Irena Belohorska, a member of the European parliament, described in her contribution the situation concerning environmental laws in the European parliament. She confirmed that there are anti-falconry interests and she promised her further support for Slovakia, where it seems administration officers may not respect common EU regulations and they trick falconers. She also offered her support for other European countries. She is currently personally responsible for EU pesticide regulation amendment which should strictly exclude negative influence for fauna including birds of prey. She also promised she would initiate an investigation concerning the State Slovak Protection Agency, which received a lot of subsidies for their projects from EU funds, while some of them appear to be suspicious and not properly documented.

The President of the Slovak falconers Anton Moravcik spoke about the status of falconry in Slovakia with special regard to the legislation situation. He stated that Slovak falconers suffer from excessive bureaucracy and very inconsistent management from the side of the environmental authorities who do not respect even the court decisions that were made recently in favour of falconers. He made an analysis stating that the registering bureaucracy of a single animal is associated with administration expenses exceeding €1000. He pointed out there are very strong protectionist groups in Slovakia which may even be personally infiltrated by the Slovak state authorities and police and which do their best to create artificial enemies, to overstate their merits and to make a lot of public noise in order to justify their position and to receive further subsidies.

As IAF public relation officer, I made a presentation about The International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey, about its membership, role, aims and current situation concerning falconry worldwide. I stressed the importance of UNESCO falconry intangible heritage recognition. 

Dr. Peter Blasko, who is a falconer and regional State Veterinary Administration director, informed the seminar that the new veterinary/animal welfare law is valid in Slovakia from 1st of February 2007. The issue concerning the animal welfare amendment was first pointed out during the IAF annual general meeting in Opocno - Czech Republic in 2005. Dr. Blasko described the legislative process and quoted and explained the final regulation which turned to be very positive for falconry. At the end Dr. Blasko expressed thanks to IAF for providing necessary assistance and to Prof. Thomas Richter, the main European animal welfare specialist, for providing a supporting paper “Ethical and scientific aspects concerning animal welfare and falconry”.

The President of the Hungarian falconers, Janos Toth, spoke about falconry issues in Hungary. The legislation in Hungary is quite strict, but falconers are able to obtain goshawks and sparrow hawks from the wild.

The President of The Czech falconers Petr Zvolanek presented a paper on wild release of peregrine and saker falcons in which he has over 10 year experience and expertise. His contribution initiated a hectic discussion concerning the use of various reintroduction methods. Especially widely discussed with regard to its efficiency was the method whereby young peregrines are adopted by a goshawk parent.

Miroslav Micenko presented a contribution about golden eagle breeding in Slovakia. In 1996 he bred a golden eagle in captivity for the first time in Slovak history. So far he has bred 29 eagles which are successfully used in many European countries for falconry.

Dr. Pavol Michal discussed the falconry education of the young generation. Every year he organises a dedicated falconry camp for children in the Slovak mountains and he also described his experience as a teacher at Forestry school where they hold falconry courses as the main subject.

One of the most interesting contributions was “Veterinary aspects of raptor rehabilitation” by Dr. Ladislav Molnar who returned recently from the United Arab Emirates where he worked for many years as a veterinary doctor in a Wild life and falcon hospital. Dr. Molnar gave the latest info about modern treatment of birds of prey in a very clear and understandable way including a photo/video presentation.

The seminar was followed next day by the 35th anniversary meeting of The Slovak Falconry Club whose main aim was to discuss general as well as internal issues of Slovak falconry. All members of the Slovak Falconry Club elected the new board. Anton Moravcik was re-elected as a president and Dr. Ladislav Molnar was elected as the new Slovak Falconry Club executive secretary and new Slovak delegate for IAF.