Environmental degradation threatens Punjab wildlife

Minister says promoting legal hunting to help in conservation efforts

RAWALPINDI: Creeping urbanization, sprawling industrial zones, excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers, poaching and destruction of wildlife habitats has been inflicting serious damage on the wildlife of the country, particularly in Punjab.

This was stated by the Punjab Minister for Wildlife and Fisheries Malik Asad Khokhar on Monday while inaugurating a pheasant hunting event at Kallar Kahar.

The minister expressed the hope that the ‘Clean and Green Pakistan Programme’ will restore forests and habitats for wildlife and also create positive impacts on the environment.

“Our priority is to discourage poaching and promotion of sport hunting through legal channels,” he said, asserting that the government will not compromise on it.

Regarding the pheasant hunt, Khokar said that their prime objective for organising the event was to eliminate the existing gap between the department and legal hunters as well as to promote legal hunting in the province. He urged the participants to disseminate the message of legal hunting in their circle.

The minister asserted that he was completely aware of the problems faced by the wildlife department and that he will convey them to the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister.

“The wildlife in the province is our asset and we have to protect it all costs,” Khokar said, adding that trophy hunting is a part of wildlife conservation programmes across the world. He said that events such as pheasant hunting can become possible after an increase in the population of the fowl beyond a certain threshold. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2020.