The Ruling on Training Falcons with Live Pigeons
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Is it permissible to train falcons using live pigeons, or to hunt them with them? Because I see them placing a live pigeon in a loose, easy net and releasing it into the air, where the falcon swoops down on it and tears it apart, and its talons get caught in the net, so they catch it. Is this permissible?
Do they hunt the falcon?The questioner: Yes, they hunt the falcon using a live pigeon.
The Shaykh: But how does it reach the pigeon when it is in the net?The questioner: They put a net on the pigeon, like a long garment over the back of its wings, and release it at a distance on a long rope, then they hide. The falcon comes and attacks it, tearing it apart. I saw one of them who comes every day to train his falcon with a live pigeon. He ties it to a rope and lets it fly, then trains the falcon on it. When it catches it, he encourages it with a reward of a piece of meat.
The Shaykh: What I hear is that they release the pigeon and do not put it in a net, then they release the falcon on it.
The questioner: They sometimes release it, and they put it in a net when hunting, when the falcon is new and not yet trained, meaning: it is wild in the open. So they put the pigeon in a net and release it at a distance; the falcon comes, and its talons get caught in the net after it tears the pigeon apart, drags it, and catches it.
The Shaykh: Is it not possible to teach it except by this method?The questioner: They said: It is not possible except by this method. As for hunting it when it was wild previously, it is not done by this method.
The Shaykh: If it is not possible to benefit from it except by this method, while it is alive, then there is no harm. But if it is possible, even by a distant method, then it is not permissible to harm it.
The questioner: And hunting the wild falcon with a live pigeon?The Shaykh: There is no harm in it, if it is not possible except by this.
The questioner: But is it not torturing the animal?The Shaykh: It is torture for its benefit, just as we brand it for its benefit.
Do they hunt the falcon?The questioner: Yes, they hunt the falcon using a live pigeon.
The Shaykh: But how does it reach the pigeon when it is in the net?The questioner: They put a net on the pigeon, like a long garment over the back of its wings, and release it at a distance on a long rope, then they hide. The falcon comes and attacks it, tearing it apart. I saw one of them who comes every day to train his falcon with a live pigeon. He ties it to a rope and lets it fly, then trains the falcon on it. When it catches it, he encourages it with a reward of a piece of meat.
The Shaykh: What I hear is that they release the pigeon and do not put it in a net, then they release the falcon on it.
The questioner: They sometimes release it, and they put it in a net when hunting, when the falcon is new and not yet trained, meaning: it is wild in the open. So they put the pigeon in a net and release it at a distance; the falcon comes, and its talons get caught in the net after it tears the pigeon apart, drags it, and catches it.
The Shaykh: Is it not possible to teach it except by this method?The questioner: They said: It is not possible except by this method. As for hunting it when it was wild previously, it is not done by this method.
The Shaykh: If it is not possible to benefit from it except by this method, while it is alive, then there is no harm. But if it is possible, even by a distant method, then it is not permissible to harm it.
The questioner: And hunting the wild falcon with a live pigeon?The Shaykh: There is no harm in it, if it is not possible except by this.
The questioner: But is it not torturing the animal?The Shaykh: It is torture for its benefit, just as we brand it for its benefit.