Urial hunting permits fail to garner interest

To curb illegal hunting and to generate funds for conservation efforts, permits for trophy hunting of the urial, native to Punjab, are issued every year but this time around there were no takers for the permits.

The wild sheep, known as urial, is widely regarded as the provincial animal for Punjab and due to its dwindling population it is considered a huge prize for trophy hunters.

Keeping that in mind, the Punjab Wildlife had planned to conduct its hunting from December of this year to March of next year.

Consequently, the Federal Ministry of Climate Change, had issued 16 permits for trophy hunting to the province; the first auction of these permits was to be held on 5th December and the second auction on 8th December.

However, both times, no hunters took part in the exercise.

Chairman of the Chief Minister Task Force on Forests, Wildlife and Fisheries, Badar Munir, when asked about the lack of interest, said that unfortunately like always Punjab has delayed the schedule for hunting.

“Even last year only a few hunters took part because the announcement was delayed. This time around the announcement came after the Safari Club International (SIC) Convention had already been held in America,” Munir explained.

The SIC Convention is an annual event, where renowned hunters from around the world gather and book their spots for once-in-alifetime hunting experiences.

“The booking for this year has already taken place and since we were late no one has taken an interest in hunting the urial,” informed Munir.

“Another reason for the lack of interest is that last year the reserve price for a permit was 17,000 dollars, whereas this year the price is 25,000 dollars.”

The Express Tribune learnt that since the permits were not bought, local Community Based Organisations (CBOs), responsible for conservation efforts, will be amongst the worst affectees as they receive 80% of the revenue generated from trophy hunting.

Resultantly, the urial population, which used to be more than 4,000 strong a few years ago, and is presently only a few hundred, will dwindle even further.

On the other hand, Mudassar Hasan, Deputy Director of Punjab Wildlife, was asked if any other methods could be used to help conservation efforts of the animal, instead of trophy hunting.

“We only conduct trophy hunting after we receive a quota from the Ministry of Climate Change and after having conducted a survey of the areas where the population of the animal is higher. Only then are hunters allowed to hunt the urial,” Hassan explained while talking to The Express Tribune.