The German-run falcon clinic in Abu Dhabi

In front of the entrance to the hospital, visitors are greeted by a huge wooden falcon sculpture, making it clear that the place is a sanctuary for birds of prey.

The patients stoically tip-toe back and forth across a 20-centimeter high wooden pole covered in artificial grass. They wear leather hoods to cover their fierce eyes.

Some 11,000 falcons are treated each year at the falcon hospital; around 75,000 have been attended to since its opening in 1999.

Emiratis call the chief physician from Germany "Doctora." Margit Müller, 49, has headed the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital since 2001. The expert on falcons has meanwhile become famous well beyond the borders of the United Arab Emirates. Her experience and her data pool have made her a leader in the field around the world.

The clinic is equipped with everything a hospital for humans requires: an operating room and quarantine area for infectious diseases, a lab, an x-ray room, and even an intensive care station.

The machines primarily originated from a children's hospital since they are the proper sizes for the birds - incubators for pre-mature babies that are used in intensive care stations, for instance.

This patient has a problem with its claws. They are clearly too long and have to be clipped since claws that are too long could lead to unhealthy an position of the feet.

Blood tests are a routine part of check-ups. In addition to normal check-ups, broken legs and ribs are the most common ailment to be treated. Broken feathers, skin wounds and infections are also common. Currently, 107 people from 16 different countries treat the bird patients at the hospital.

This falcon is lying relaxed on the operating table. Surgical tools are pretty basic: a carpet cutter and a small sanding machine from a hardware store.

One room in the hospital is filled with substitute feathers sorted by size and color. They can bd used should a falcon lose or break one. A new feather is glued into the keel of the old one - and the bird is ready to fly again. But the prostheses only last until the next molting, when they are naturally replaced.

Margit Müller was born near Ulm, Germany and trained as a veterinarian. She wrote her doctoral thesis about falcon foot illnesses, then moved to Dubai to do practical training. Her work there became so widely respected that she got an offer to open up a falcon hospital in Abu Dhabi.

An endoscopy on a falcon costs around 70 euros (nearly $82). Bigger operations are naturally more expensive, so falconry is not exactly an inexpensive hobby. Those who own a falcon must reckon with spending around 300-400 euros a month to care for them and provide medical treatment.

In the Emirates, falcons have their own passports listing pertinent information: origin, birth date, owner, and the 13 digits of the microchip implanted in the falcon's chest. The only thing missing is a picture. That's because the peregrine falcon is the only type of falcon whose plumage changes over the years, thus changing its appearance. So, passport photos become superfluous.

Tourists have been able to visit the falcon hospital since 2007. The clinic even houses a museum to educate tourists about why falcons are so important in the Arab Gulf States. That's why the Falcon Hospital is one of the top 10 attractions in Abu Dhabi.