Endangered species: ‘Jackets with illegal fur should be destroyed’

WWF demands public destruction of jackets seized at the airport in Sept.

LAHORE: The leather jackets with fur trimmings that customs officials seized at Karachi airport on September 26 should be destroyed in public.

The World Wide Fund for Nature - Pakistan (WWF) officials made the demand on Wednesday. The officials also appreciated the proactive stance of the climate change ministry and customs authorities, particularly Dr Amna Naeem, who fined the trader as soon as the consignment was confiscated.

The package contained leather garments adorned with trimmings of red fox and Asiatic jackal fur, according to the statement. In early October, biodiversity director Uzma Khan wrote a letter to the federal revenue department, as the customs department falls under it. In November, she wrote to the climate change ministry urging the departments to call upon a media conference and destroy the confiscated fur.

Khan said the traders usually attempt using political connections to get the goods through customs. Publicly destroying the jackets will help spread the message and will discourage traders from using such connections.

Hunting fox and jackal or trading their fur is in violation of the provincial wildlife laws and Pakistan Trade Control of Wild Fauna and Flora Act, 2012, which is a ratification of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of wild fauna and flora.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2012.