MITHI, Jan 29: Marooara, a network of more than 60 non-governmental organisations, has demanded a complete ban on hunting of near-extinct species of animals and stern action against poachers and hunters. The chairman of Marooara coordination council Obhayo Junejo, project coordinator of Society for Conservation and Protection of Environment (Scope) Bharumal Armani, and programme coordinator of Baanh Beli Sultan said at a press conference at the press club that the Wildlife Department should stop issuing permit for houbara hunting to royal dignitaries in the name of hospitality.

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AS in previous years, the business of slaughter will be booming this winter. Arab dignitaries have been awarded 31 special permits to hunt the houbara bustard, a locally and internationally protected species that winters in Pakistan after travelling from its breeding grounds in Central Asia, China and Mongolia. Each licence carries a ‘bag limit’ of 200 birds which means that, at the very minimum, 6,200 houbaras out of the twenty to thirty thousand expected to grace us with their presence this year will be massacred on Pakistani soil. The actual figure will be much higher.

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PAKISTAN needs to study the case of Salman Khan. The Indian actor was arrested and charged with seven years’ imprisonment for hunting the black buck, a serious criminal offence in India. His case has shown that no matter how popular or influential a person is, he/she is not above the law. This message needs to be sent to Pakistan too where, despite well-intentioned laws that prohibit hunting endangered species, or limit the number of game that can be poached, every rule is openly defied – and how.

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LAHORE, Oct 9: Certain amendments have been made to the Punjab Wildlife’s Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management Act 1974 through a bill submitted in the Punjab Assembly recently, wildlife officials told Dawn on Tuesday. Under the amended act, officials said, now private parties could also set up wildlife breeding farms, wildlife parks and zoological gardens.

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It is the present government’s idea to provide maximum possible recreational spots to public.

The managing director of the Sindh Tourism Corporation has been lined up to be deputed as the director of this project. If all goes as planned, tourists to Sukker will soon be able to line up, rifles in hand, for their turn to kill animals confined somewhere on the 150 square kilometers alloted for this unique safari park.

The Central Zoo Authority that regulates the functioning of zoos in India defines safari parks as

specialised zoos where the captive animals are housed in any large naturalistic enclosures and the visitors are allowed to enter the enclosure to view the animals in a mechanised vehicle or a predetermined route from close quarters.

In a typical safari park, as is the case with ones located in or around cities, one is supposed to go see the animals, not kill them. Being offered up to be shot by blood thirsty tourists on vacation is no less than canned hunting.

The Born Free Foundation defines canned hunting as

the hunting of captive animals that are trapped within enclosures and have little chance of escape.

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums requires its members to have a high standard of ethical conduct, and opposes

the use, or supply of animals for “canned hunting”, i.e. shooting animals in confined spaces, or when semi tranquilised or restrained.

No Pakistani zoo is listed as a member on their website and probably none subscribe to their ethics either. They have their own standard operating procedures, and tend to work in mysterious ways. Here, the Zoological Survey Department advises the government on all zoological matters, including the conservation and management of wildlife. Where will the animals for the canned hunts come from? Such trivial details are unclear at the moment, but the public has a right to know on whose advice the Sindh Minister for Culture and Tourism initiated a project that includes canned hunting in a safari park.

We encourage you to write letters to the editors of leading newspapers in Pakistan to bring the issue of canned hunts to the public notice.

DAWN
letters@dawn.com

The News
news.post@thenews.com.pk

Daily Times
letters@dailytimes.com.pk

All letters should include the writer’s full name, postal address, e-mail address, and in the case of Pakistan, a day-time telephone number.

Karachi – Successive city governments in Karachi have over the decades been killing stray dogs by strychnine poisoning and shooting with guns. They have even involved the general public in this from time to time by offering cash as reward for every dog killed. What they fail to comprehend is that no matter how many dogs are killed, the remaining will move into the area and quickly breed up to the carrying capacity of their ecological niche. At a walk to create awareness about rabies near Quaid’s mausoleum on World Rabies Day, September 8, 2007, the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) advocated the Animal Birth Control method as an effective stray dog population management strategy.

Killing dogs is an ineffective approach and has never worked in Pakistan or any other country of the world. Civic authorities in Karachi should consider implementing a strategy that has been scientifically proven to be effective in many cities of the world.

says Co-founder of PAWS, Maheen Zia.

In an ABC program, street dogs are captured, sterilized, vaccinated against rabies and released back to the area from where they were captured. The percentage of dogs that need to be sterilized to curb population growth and vaccinated to prevent the spread of rabies is 70%. Over time, the number of stray dogs in the streets goes down, as do the cases of rabies. If these efforts are meticulously planned and well directed, they will be effective and long-lasting.

The ABC strategy is already in effect in many countries of the world including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Nepal, UAE, Egypt, Brazil, Greece, Kenya and Turkey. In India, which has the highest instances of rabies and dog-bite cases in South Asia, ABC has been the official government policy for some time now, including cities such as Madras, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, and Jaipur.

A sustained ABC program in every municipality of the city, in addition to proper garbage disposal, pet registration/vaccination, and awareness programs in schools and the mass media will produce dramatically visible results just as they have in other parts of the world.