Poachers behind black bear’s demise arrested

Wildlife dept fails to recover cubs of female bear killed in Siren Valley

MANSEHRA:

The Wildlife Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has successfully arrested the killers of a female black bear in the Bugermung area of Siren Valley in Manshera district, but could not recover two cubs accompanying their mother.

“After conducting different raids and house searches in Bugermung village, we arrested six persons including two killers who directly fired the gunshots at the bear and four as their facilitators,” said Syed Sarmad Hussain, DFO Wildlife Manshera.

Sarmad admitted that cubs could not be recovered from the possession of poachers. He explained that one cub had already escaped in the forest soon after a gun attack on a female black bear while the other one was caught by the poachers.

He said after several days of house searches and raids in different areas of the village, the investigating team concluded that the cub in possession was also released by poachers in the forest to avoid arrest.

Sarmad said village notables have also presented a signed undertaking that they are the witness to the release of the arrested cub in the forest by the poachers. However, he hastened to add, the staff of the Wildlife Department is still vigilant and are in contact with locals to find any clue about sighting, sale or shifting of cub from village to down country.

He believed that the cubs could survive in the forest because according to a picture of one of the cubs, they were looking grown up from suckling stage and could manage to survive without the help and support of the mother.

The Wildlife Department has collected a fine of Rs280,000 from the killers and their facilitators otherwise they would have to face imprisonment from at least three months to six months, Sarmad added.

It merits mention here that attractive market prices of wild species are causing the spike in incidents of poaching.

According to founder of Mission Awareness Foundation (MAF), Fahad Malik, the minimum price of a black bear cub in the local market is around Rs250,000 to Rs300,000 which attracts poor people living in mountainous regions to opt for earning a very handsome earning.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1^st, 2023.