ISLAMABAD: Hunters attacked and broke a wildlife conservationist’s arm after striking him with an axe in the Kahuta National Park, an official of the Punjab Wildlife Department told Dawn on Sunday.

Khadim Hussain and his two sons Abid Hussain and Sadam Hussain were hunting common quail with a net when the Punjab Wildlife Department caught them. The father and his sons were trapping birds with a net. Hunting is illegal in the Kahuta National Park.

“One of the hunters struck our conservation staff Adnan Safir with an axe and broke his elbow. Though it is legal to hunt quailtill April 15, the hunters did not have the licence to hunt birds even outside the protected areas,” District Wildlife Officer Rizwana Aziz told Dawn.

The department is now pursuing a police case against the three hunters and a first information report (FIR) will be registered, she said.

Besides strict regulations in protected areas, hunters and poachers violate conservation laws and are found creeping into the forests seeking game that is endangered and protected in the red list.

Over the last 30 days, the wildlife department has filed nearly a dozen challans and collected more than R250,000 from illegal hunters. These fines were collected from hunters trapping quailwithout hunting permits or possessing them illegally. Fines were also collected from dealers who were illegally selling quail in the market in the twin cities.

She said the quail hunting will close after April 15 after which hunting of all sorts of birds will be illegal until September. This break is necessary for their populations to recover.

Last month, the department raided the house of a taxidermist near Loi Bher in Rawalpindi and recovered dozens of pelts of exotic animals, including an African lion, a tiger and a puma besides skins of leopards which the department feared were recently killed.

The raid was jointly conducted by the staff of the wildlife department and Islamabad Wildlife Management Board who also recovered stuffed animals.

Ms Aziz lamented that trade of protected species continued unchecked on social media websites.

“Our staff constantly monitors these websites and usually approach illegal hunters as buyers. The raid on the house of the taxidermist was conducted in a similar manner,” she said.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2021