Wildlife Department Imposes Fines on Hunters
In an attempt to conserve Pakistan's wildlife, the Punjab Wildlife Department has begun fining hunting parties for poaching protected species.
The Punjab Wildlife Department has fined and collected Rs550,000 from hunters for illegal hunting in the last 30 days, however, hunters seem to be furious about the fee.
Out of 51 fines issued over the last month, 43 cases were settled somehow but the remaining of the hunting parties decided to register First Information Reports (FIRs) against the staff of the wildlife department. Moreover, some huntsmen decided not to pay the penalties for illegal hunting and challenged the department in court.
Nonetheless, a hunting party from Charsada had to pay up to Rs122,000 for trying to hunt partridges in the Rawalpindi district. While it is partridge season and a hunter is allowed to hunt up to six birds against one gun, partridges can only be hunted on Sundays, until Feb 15, after which partridge hunting season closes till next winter, according to the Wildlife Department.
“It’s a fairly reasonable as well as a necessary arrangement to preserve the population of partridges. But huntsmen are getting agitated over these restrictions under the law and often hunt on undesignated days, including the hunting party from Charsada,” Punjab Wildlife Department District Wildlife Officer Rizwana Aziz stated. According to them, the officials managed to reach in time and stop the hunting of partridges any further.
Furthermore, the wildlife department recently caught a party trying to hunt barking deer in Murree and placed a heavy fine. “Our staff found the hunting party just in time. The hunters were fined Rs90,000. Law prohibits hunting of barking deer, whose population has been dwindling. However, conservation efforts have saved barking deer from completely disappearing,” Ms. Aziz said.
According to a survey from 2016, researchers from the Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, have registered 200 barking deer in the national park. Ms. Aziz from the wildlife department believes that such strict conservation efforts and the implementation of fines on hunters have led to an increase in the number of barking deer in all three areas.
“The fact that the national park is not properly demarcated makes our jobs somewhat harder. A request has been forwarded for proper demarcation of the protected areas to ensure the conservation of various species of animals,” she added and later elaborated upon the need for important awareness programs concerning the wildlife specifically the common leopard and pangolins. Conservation efforts have certainly helped to increase populations of pangolins in Kallar Syedan and Taxila. No case of poaching pangolins has been reported since 2017 due to the fines on hunters and proper conservation mechanisms,” the wildlife department official claimed.
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