THIS is with reference to the report “Pakistan’s critically endangered leopards in fight for survival” (July 18). The report brought back memories when I, as a teenager, accompanied my elders on a visit to Veerab in Lasbella district. On a small hillock, there was a hand-made stone hut owned by an old man. In subsequent years, I visited the place several times to climb the peaks of the Pub Mountain Range that starts from the Arabian Sea and runs all the way to Wadh. My last visit to the area was two years ago as an old man gripped by nostalgia to go down the memory lane.

During my early years, while spending cold nights in the stone hut, sounds of leopards could be heard echoing through the night. I heard my elders claiming they had seen black bears on the mountains. I always thought it was some kind of joke, but now I realise that they were actually Balochistan’s black bears that are now extinct. Unfortunately, they were poached by humans just like the killing of the leopards that have now become a critically endangered species across the province.

Abid S. Mustikhan
Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2024