Number of raw parrots declining fast: Wildlife dept

Hunting of these parrots is prohibited under Wildlife Act

LAHORE: The Punjab Wildlife Protection Department has said the royal raw parrots were among the endangered species in the province and their numbers was on the decline rapidly.

After obtaining a licence from the wildlife department, citizens catch raw parrots from forests and keep them in cages at their homes. A senior officer of the Punjab Wildlife Department said when four or five chicks of raw parrot were caught, only one of them could survive while the rest of the parrots die due to different diseases and unsuitable environment.

Punjab Wildlife Deputy Director Anwar Maan told the Express News that earlier raw parrots were listed in the schedule 3 under the Wildlife Act. This schedule includes those animals and birds which were neither allowed to hunt nor could be caught and kept in the custody. However, now raw parrots are listed in schedule 1. As per schedule 1, these birds cannot be caught but many people keep them in their houses where they die.

The wildlife officer said a few years back, a case of keeping raw parrot at home was lodged against a famous personality. At that time raw parrots were included in the list of a protected bird. After this incident, influential people got shifted raw parrots from schedule 3 to schedule 1.

Bushra, a bird lover, said a few months back she bought two chicks of raw parrots for Rs30,000 from Tollinton Market. However, one of them died after a few weeks. She maintained that there were many types of parrots but raw parrot was the most expensive and beautiful bird.

Khalid, a senior leader of the union selling fancy birds, said raw parrots were listed in the schedule 4 under the Wildlife Act. The hunting of birds and animals in this schedule was prohibited.