LAKKI MARWAT: Crane hunters on Saturday swarmed the office of the wildlife department in Bannu to get hunting permits after the government relaxed ban on the bird’s felling.

The provincial government has lifted the ban on crane hunting for two weeks, and has increased fee for establishing crane hunting camps and for its possession.

The crane welfare society formed by the hunters of Lakki Marwat, Bannu and Karak districts and North Waziristan Agency of Fata had campaigned for lifting ban on the hunting of the bird.

When contacted, divisional forest officer wildlife, Bannu, Abdul Haleem Marwat told Dawn that the department facilitated hunters to deposit relevant fee without facing any hurdles. He said that Bannu wildlife department had collected Rs700,000 from hunters as hunting camp and crane possession fee.

Mr Marwat claimed that record revenue was collected from crane hunters in the history of wildlife department, Bannu division. “The process also helped us to get the accurate data of hunters which can be used for future research and study on crane conservation,” he maintained. He said that wildlife officials provided full cooperation to the crane hunters to fulfill legal formalities for getting hunting permits.

Published in Dawn March 22nd , 2015

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