Wildlife Dept teams alerted in six districts

The assistant director said that raiding teams had been directed to stay alert as migratory birds’ arrival had...

MULTAN:

The Wildlife Department has activated raiding teams in six districts of the Punjab to catch and punish poachers, Assistant Director Mian Muhammad Abbas said on Friday.

The assistant director said that the raiding teams had been directed to stay alert as migratory birds’ arrival had begun.

The quail hunting season began on August 15. Hunting of dabchick, also known as Little Grebe or murghabi, would begin from October 15, and that of partridge from November 15 to January 31. Abbas said that the raiding teams had been told to monitor hunters and other violators.

In August, he said Rs150,000 had been collected in licence fees. Another Rs219,000 had been collected in fines.

Abbas said that hunting season of birds, including those that migrated to the area from Central Asian states, began from mid August every year and concluded in March. He said the department was tasked to ensure that these birds were not hunted illegally during the breeding season.

He said the population of several birds, including local doves and wild pigeons, had been gradually declining in the south Punjab.

He said the government had banned their hunting last year. He said he hoped that the ban would not be lifted this year. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2013.