PESHAWAR, Aug 7: The NWFP wildlife department is finding it difficult to buy a lion and a lioness for a new safari park in Kohat after the Punjab government refused to provide a pair from its sanctuaries.

After the refusal by the Punjab government, the NWFP wildlife department had floated tenders to acquire a pair from the market, an official said. The government had allocated Rs700,000 for the purchase for Togh Mangara Safari Park. Officials said they had been negotiating with a number of parties in Punjab and Karachi to acquire the animals but some of them had demanded over Rs2 million for a pair.

Chief Conservator Dr Mumtaz Malik said the government could not import the animals because of restrictions under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. “The only option with the department is to purchase the pair from the local market,” he said.

The officials said wild animals, including lions, were being smuggled from India and Africa and kept in private sanctuaries, although the law did not permit keeping wild species in private sanctuaries.