Three-day pheasant shooting event concludes

LAHORE:  

The three-day pheasant shooting event organised by the Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department concluded on Sunday. At least 41 people from all over the country participated in hunting 200 birds.

The department released 200 ring necked pheasants and green pheasants from the Lahore Zoo for the event. Hunters were required to pay Rs1,000 as a registration fee and Rs3,000 for each bird they hunted. Each hunter was allowed to hunt a maximum of five birds. At the end of the three-day event, the department raked in approximately Rs0.75 million.

Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department Director General Sohail Ashraf said that the primary purpose behind organising the event is not to earn revenue but to promote legal hunting. “The department is providing individuals with all sorts of opportunities in order to promote legal hunting. The main objective behind organising the shooting event is to reduce the gap between hunters and the department,” he said.

“We can only discourage illegal hunting by promoting methods of legal hunting,” he expressed.

Earlier, while addressing the opening ceremony, the director general said that providing hunting opportunities using animals and birds brought up in captivity will reduce the burden on those in the wild.

He stated that the department will also organise such an event in the future. The department is creating awareness about the protection of wildlife by organising such events. Using animals and birds specifically bred by the department is the only way to protect those in the wild, he maintained.

Previously, Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department Publicity Deputy Director Amir Masood stated that poaching should be discouraged as much as possible. Through such initiatives, we can protect the population of pheasants and other such birds and animals in the wild, he expressed.