Houbara Bustard: The hunt is on

KUN0010 4 GEN 0336 KUWAIT /KUNA-SUI0 SCI-PAKISTAN-HOUBARA-HUNTING Houbara Bustard: The hunt is on A feature by Amna Yousaf Khokhar (With photos) ISLAMABAD, Jan 18 (KUNA) -- As winter arrives, hunters especially from Gulf countries start arriving in Pakistan to hunt rare birds ruthlessly in eastern and southern parts of Pakistan despite ban. A UAE Minister reached Bahawalpur city on Friday on a private visit. High-ranking Pakistani officials received him at the airport. According to the official reports the Minister would stay for few days for hunting and special arrangements have been made in the desert to facilitate the guest. With the advent of the winter season, birds of different kinds, including rare specie Houbara Bustard, started visiting Pakistani provinces eastern Punjab, southeastern Sindh and southwestern Baluchistan. Pakistan has unique biodiversity. According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reports, tens of thousands of Houbaras come to Pakistan every year because Pakistani rangelands constitute the largest chunk of their winter-feeding grounds. They come from the Urumqi and Kashgar areas of Xinjiang in China, and the Kyzl Kum, Tau Kum and Kara Kum desert areas of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and some areas of Turkmenistan. Unconfirmed estimates put the Houbara population in Asia at about 100,000 with numbers falling fast. According to the wildlife acts in Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan, the hunting of Houbara bustards is prohibited. But each season, the ban is temporarily lifted and permits are issued to foreigners. The director of the Houbara Foundation, retired Brig Mukhtar Ahmed, says that some 20,000 to 25,000 Houbaras enter Pakistan every year. "Where these birds interact with the local ecosystems, they also have to face traditional falconers and illegal hunters and trappers. When these birds begin their return migration in March, it is believed that 4,000 to 6,000 birds fail to go back to their breeding areas, having been poached and smuggled abroad." The issuing of hunting licenses is done purely by the federal government and clearly demarcated hunting areas are allocated and so are the hunting bags and the duration of the hunt. "Each dignitary is allowed approximately 200 birds." Areas marked for hunting unfortunately include wildlife-protected areas such as national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The permit may say that protected areas are excluded, but hunters easily violate these restrictions, he adds. According to the Houbara Foundation report, it all started in the 1960s during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government (father of former exiled Premier Benzair Bhutto), when foreign dignitaries were invited to come for the game. In the 1970s and 80s, the guests played havoc with the bird and the ecosystem of the range lands in Pakistan with excessive hunting, by bringing heavy four-wheelers to the deserts along with other modern game accessories. Their frequent visits not only proved fatal to Houbara, but also caused destruction to other wild animals and disturbed their natural biological cycles. In the 80s, scientists and wildlife organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), raised their voice against the unbridled hunting of Houbaras in Pakistan. In the early 90s, WWF Pakistan initiated an extensive media campaign against the falconers. Traditionally Falcons are trained to hunt Houbara bustards. In 1994, a team of conservationists from the United Arab Emirates arrived in Pakistan to negotiate with wildlife organizations. In 1995, the Houbara Foundation International was formed. Within a few years, it became one of the most resourceful non-government groups in Pakistan and runs two research centers for the rehabilitation and breeding of the bird. The Houbara Foundation International helps governments monitor habitats and carry out population estimates of the Houbaras every year. It advocates sustainable hunting, benefit to the habitat communities and transparency in hunting-related activities. Sustainable hunting precludes the ruthless destruction of whole populations of Houbaras and ensures that future human generations also get to see the Houbaras. To a query Ahmed said The Houbara Foundation and the WWF cannot protest hunting of the bird, "because we have no authority except to put moral pressure on the government to take care of the treaties it signed for the conservation of nature." In every winter the Houbara bustard issue resurfaces in Pakistan like the endangered and shy desert bird itself. If it is not the row over its sustainable hunting, then it is people looking the other way while falcons, traditionally used to hunt the birds, are smuggled out, says Tahir Qureshi sardonically, head of the Coastal and Marine unit of World Conservation Union (IUCN) Pakistan. He says there is a ban on the hunting of this protected bird but only for the local hunters. Foreign dignitaries under special permission from the government are allowed to hunt because they can afford to have fun although it's against the norms of conservation. There is also diplomacy and brotherly relations with the Gulf Arabs, who for years have used falcons to hunt Houbaras and also carry this out in the country, which activists say makes conservation an difficult task. According to Tahir the government's justification in permitting foreigners to hunt is that these funds can be invested in welfare and development projects. It invites rulers and members of ruling families of various states for their traditional sport of falconry, Houbara hunting being a traditional game. In return, these dignitaries carry out welfare programmes for the habitat communities that live under harsh conditions in the wilderness. During the hunting season, they employ local drivers, cooks and guides who earn enough to sustain their families the year round. However, this year, the Houbara hunting season started with a row in Punjab's Dera Ghazi Khan district. According to media reports, villagers dismantled the camps of the Houbara Foundation, created for the protection and sustainable hunting of the bird, as a reaction to attempt to stop the locals from hunting and netting the Houbara and the falcons. (end) amn.ja KUNA 181029 Jan 04NNNN