Replete in felt peak caps and with long embroidered coats , the eagle hunters of Kazakhstan are an arresting sight . With golden eagles , some standing almost 3-feet-high perched on their arms , they also carry with pride the Kazakh tradition of hunting using birds of prey that stretches back to the days of Genghis Khan . The practice of hunting with eagles and falcons was almost wiped out by the Soviets who regarded it as a feudal throwback , but thanks to organized eagle-hunting competitions - and a growing interest in Kazakh traditions - the eagle hunters are making a comeback . A bird show at Sunkar Raptor Sanctuary , situated outside the city of Almaty , uses a wolf-skin lure to demonstrate the lethal striking ability of trained eagles . One of the world 's largest birds of prey , a golden eagle can swoop on quarry as large as a wolf , reaching speeds of 120 mph in its initial strike . Its talons can exert pressure of upwards of 200 pounds per square inch , allowing it to hold down prey while ripping into it with a razor-sharp hooked beak . According to Paul Pfander , one the leading bird handlers in Kazakhstan , hunting with eagles is unique to the country and neighboring Kyrgyzstan , noting that there are now some 50 eagle handlers Kazakhstan . `` Most of eagle handlers are happy to make a living posing for photographs for tourists , '' says Pfander , but he notes that there is a very small group of around 10 traditional eagle hunters still who ride the Kazakh steppes seeking out live prey . As interest in the Kazakh tradition of falconry and eagling increases , shows such as those at the Sunkar sanctuary are helping to finance programs to preserve the Central Asian habitat of another of the country 's birds of prey , the saker falcon . `` There are a lot more conservation groups now , '' says Pfander . `` And they are attracting a lot more money than before . '' It 's an important project as Kazakhstan 's falcons , unlike its eagles , are in the sights of poachers . `` I would say in the past two decades the numbers of saker falcons ( in Kazakhstan ) has dropped by 90 % , '' says Pfander . The birds are listed as `` endangered '' on the IUCN 's Red List of Threatened Species that notes the species `` may be undergoing a very rapid decline '' . Wealthy states in the Middle East like the UAE are the main destination for wild-caught birds , where a falcon perched on the leather glove of a rich Emirati is as potent a status symbol as a private jet or top-end Mercedes . Efforts to send birds back to Kazakhstan , like a recent program by the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital to return 66 falcons to their natural habitat , are small in comparison to the size of the market . The 150 birds bred each year as part of the Sunkar Raptor Sanctuary 's breeding program also represent a mere drop in the bucket compared to the estimated thousands smuggled out of the country . The international black market in hunting falcons is estimated to be worth as much as $ 300 million a year , according to conservation groups , with gyr , saker and peregrine falcons commanding as much as $ 200,000 a bird . It is so lucrative that a 2010 documentary called `` Feathered Cocaine '' alleged it is linked to the murky world of funding for Islamic terrorism . Pfander believes the problem is a simple equation of too many people , too few nature reserves and a thriving foreign market . `` Now you can drive anywhere in Kazakhstan and this allows people to get to more and more areas of the falcons ' habitat , '' he says . `` There are specialist teams operating that capture wild falcons . It 's a very organized , it has its own hierarchy and everyone knows who they are -- it 's a kind of Mafia , '' he adds . Despite the problems for the saker falcon , the Kazakh tradition of hunting with birds of prey -- especially the golden eagle - is not likely to die out in the near future . The sheer size of the bird , mixed with the difficulty of training a raptor that can present as much a danger to its handler as its prey , means its numbers in Kazakhstan are presently stable . `` There is just no foreign market for these birds , '' says Pfander .
Tradition of hunting with golden eagles remains in Kazakhstan . Most handlers survive through doing shows , although some use to hunt . Kazakhstan 's falcons targeted by poachers for sale in Middle East . Number of native saker falcons in wild is rapidly declining .