KARACHI, Nov 20 The federal government has decided to continue with the ban on import/export of wildlife, including big cats, parakeet, reptiles and mammals, it is learnt.

According to sources, the decision was taken at a meeting of the federal environment ministry's National Council for Conservation of Wildlife (NCCW) held in Islamabad recently. The NCCW is the highest body authorised to take wildlife-related decisions at the federal level.

At least two issues relating to the international trading in big cats and parakeet were discussed amid media reports about rampant imports of big cats and exports of parakeet in large numbers by private traders, who were taking undue advantage of the loopholes and ambiguities in the wildlife conservation laws. The laws, according to the reports, needed to be updated to meet the challenges of novel ways adopted by traffickers to circumvent the laws either with the connivance or inefficiency of the law enforcers — wildlife protectors and the officials supposed to check the trade at the entry/exit points.

The sources said that imports of big cat was a lucrative business, citing a case in which three big cat cubs were imported for around Rs10,000 each and sold to a government zoo in Punjab for Rs2.5 million each. Keeping and rearing big cats in private households had also become a 'status symbol', they said, adding that a son of a politician had imported — under an import permit issued to him by relaxing the relevant ban/rules — a Siberian tiger and instantly donated it to the government after the media highlighted the issue.

Inspector-General of Forests Mahmood Nasir informed the Islamabad meeting of the NCCW that to check the illegal business amid growing trend, the council had suspended imports of big cats by the private sector until the standards and guidelines to regulate such imports were in place. He said that a draft of the standards/guidelines had been prepared by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and inputs from other stakeholders/provinces were being sought.

The meeting, chaired by Federal Environment Minister Hameed Afridi, decided that inputs/comments on the draft should be obtained and a meeting of all stakeholders held to take decisions within the next three months. In its next meeting, the council would evolve a policy regarding the big cat imports. Till then, the ban would remain in place, it was decided.

Parakeets export

Mr Nasir also told the meeting that in view of the declining status of parrots/parakeet, the NCCW had imposed a ban on their export. However, wildlife exporters had requested to the federal environment ministry to lift the ban or at least allow the export of captive bred parrots/parakeets. He said that the Zoological Survey Department (ZSD) had been requested to assess the status of the wild population of parrot/parakeet species in the country.

ZSD director Abdul Wahab, who attended the meeting as an observer, informed the gathering that his department was in the process of conducting surveys of parrots/parakeets across the country and that a comprehensive report would be submitted to the NCCW within the next six months.

The council decided that the existing ban on the export of parrots/parakeets would remain in force until the completion of the surveys and receipt of the report by the council. A decision to this effect would be taken after discussing the survey results and contents of the report, the meeting was informed.

Reptile, mammal exports

Mr Nasir, who also serves as secretary to the council, informed the meeting that in view of the dwindling population of reptile and mammal species, the federal cabinet had in 1999 decided to continue with the ban on commercial export of mammals and reptiles. However, some wildlife traders had approached the environment ministry with pleas for the lifting of the ban. Irfan Ahmed of the commerce ministry confirmed that the ban had been reflected in the trade policy.