Beneath clear skies on a mild afternoon in Al Ain, an Emirati woman walks with purpose onto a grass field at the local zoo, accompanied by her first trained falcon, Falah. Seven-year-old Falah, whose name means "success" in Arabic, has distinctive brown-and-black markings, and was a gift from Sheikh Khalifa, President of the UAE.
Jawaher Al Shamsi puts on her leather gloves as Falah mounts the perch – his head is covered with a hood and he has a leg restraint on. A minute later, the hood is removed, and the falconer distances herself, raw meat in hand. When she calls out, Falah swoops towards the meat, his disciplined response is a testament to his trainer’s skills.
Al Shamsi isn’t your average falcon trainer – she’s one of the first female Emirati bird trainers, perfecting her trade over the past four years as a supervisor birds trainer.
“Animals love it when you show care and affection towards them,” Al Shamsi says. “As a token of their gratitude, they’d be responsive toward you.”
The Al Ain resident, who is now in her 30s, knew since childhood that she wanted to work with animals in a zoo environment. Her family had raised cats, rabbits and birds in their home, and it was her dream to one day work with animals.
“I was always attracted to animals. I raised rabbits, cats and birds – they were some of my favourite companions,” she says.
After graduating from Al Jaheli College with a degree in tourism event management, Al Shamsi initially worked in a bank, then for a telecommunications company, before receiving the phone call that changed her life.
“Would you like to work as a bird trainer at Al Ain Zoo?” asked the recruiter on the other end of the line. The mother of two had applied to work at Al Ain Zoo without specifying any field. She was pleased as long as she got to be around animals. To her surprise, a bird-trainer position had come up. After some thought, she agreed, and before she knew it, she was starting a three-month training programme.
The first few days weren’t kind to her, Al Shamsi recalls. Although the zoo had promised to prepare her for this new field, her fear stretched farther than that.
“Would I be able to do this job like my male counterparts? Would I meet people’s expectations?” These were some of the questions that occupied her mind – and there was also the fear of getting hurt. It was all an unknown, she says.
“The moment I stepped into the birds’ dormitory, I sensed an obnoxious aura toward me,” she recalls. “When I approached birds with nervousness, the birds repelled [me] with the same feeling,” she says. “You have to break that mould – just like humans you have to internalise what kind of treatment suits each bird, or the sort of food they enjoy [to gain their trust].”
The problem was that the birds were used to seeing the bright colours worn by the zoo’s male trainers, so when Al Shamsi came close wearing her black abaya, they became scared, which created further distance, she says. This made it very difficult for her to form a relationship with her feathered new work colleagues. It was then that she was advised by her management to don a white or beige coat, which are colours the birds responded to, but Al Shamsi remained true to herself, and continued to wear the black abaya because “she wanted the birds to see her as she was”.
“What I did next was show up in the morning and just sit near them in my casual abaya,” Al Shamsi says. Sometimes she sat for minutes, sometimes hours. Eventually her efforts paid off, and new bonds were formed. Much to her satisfaction, the birds began to eat from her hands, and were ready to be trained by their new master.
Now, Al Shamsi is very comfortable with her avian friends, and says her first order of the day is to hold a meeting with the falcon, vulture, owl and eagle to inquire about their well-being.
“I also feed them, check their weight and write reports about their well-being daily,” she says. “You see we’re like a family now. I am the mother and they’re my extended children.”
In addition to this, she also spends time conducting bird shows for visitors. “Not in a million years did I think I would be in a position where I would be entertaining the zoo visitors on a regular basis and sharing my knowledge on birds with others,” she says.
So which birds are her favourites? When it comes to training, Al Shamsi says she finds the falcons to be the friendliest and the eagles the most difficult.
“Training birds differs depending on their types. Some birds depend on their hearing, such as the owl,” she says.
Al Shamsi first became intrigued by the UAE’s national bird when she was exposed to one at a friend’s house several years ago. Since then, she says that her daily contact with the zoo’s birds have taught her a lot. “I have learnt patience – it took a lot to join the birds family,” she says. “The Jawaher of four years ago to today is a different person.”
Like many jobs in the UAE, animal training was traditionally very male-dominated. But Al Shamsi is glad that is changing, and she couldn’t be more proud of her role in that process. “Today women have surpassed men in so many fields, and the Government is pushing toward female empowerment.”
The founding President of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed, was a fan of training birds. As a highly regarded and pioneering conservationist, he always encouraged his children and the people of the UAE to preserve the environment and its animals.
“Father Zayed wanted us to treasure the animals and set a paragon for a generation to come,” she says. “I am grateful to be the first female to join bird training, and I extend my hand in hope that other animal lovers also join this field.”
While celebrated widely among her peers for her achievement, Al Shamsi’s family is her biggest supporter.
“My girls cheer me on and they visit me now and then,” she says, adding that her 8-year-old has already made up her mind about what she wants to be when she grows up. “Once she told me: ‘Mum, since you are the first bird trainer, I want to be the first lion trainer.’ I laughed my heart out upon hearing that,” she says.
Al Ain Zoo is open Saturday to Wednesday, 9am to 8pm, and Thursdays and Fridays, 9am to 9pm. Tickets cost from Dh10 for children above the age of 3, and Dh30 for adults. For more information, visit www. alainzoo.ae.
aalhameli@thenational.ae
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