CHITRAL, Feb 20: The hunting season of migratory Siberian ducks has kicked off in the Chitral valley with people raising artificial ponds and lakes to lure the bird. A large number of birds from Siberia migrate to southern parts of the country in winter.

According to the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), Chitral serves as the flyway of more than 1.2 million migratory birds every year and the flocks including many globally important species.

Hunting of ducks has been a pastime of the rulers in the past but now it has become the hobby of all and sundry, says Durdana Khan, a hunter from Torkhow valley.

He says the ducks start their migration from Siberia in the month of February in large flocks mostly at night time and tend to follow the path above the river.

Mr Khan maintains a good fraction of the flocks descends to the ponds, lakes and the river at dawn and during daytime with many falling prey to the local hunters.

He points out that the duck hunting is a very expensive practice as thousands of rupees are spent in creating artificial lakes and ponds along the river every year, which are swept away when the river is in high floods in summer.

Another hunter Gul Jawan from Booni town says the one-and-half month season of duck hunting is a very joyous occasion and each hunter passionately spends more than fifteen hours daily in his lake awaiting the birds.

“During the season a hunter forgets all other activities of life as if there is nothing left for him to do,” says Jawan, adding, he has to keep a hound dog trained in swimming with him to recover the hunted duck.

Regarding the expenses of the artificial lakes and ponds, Mr Jawan says that the river water is diverted through channels spanning over many kilometers to make such small reservoirs to attract the duck, which costs heavily.

He adds dummy ducks are left to swim in such lakes which hoodwink the flocks enticing the birds to descend into such traps and get hunted.

Mr Jawan is of the opinion that the duck hunting has now become a matter of status for the well-to-do who exhibit their wealth during the season. “The department of wildlife seems to be least bothered to check the ruthless hunting of ducks,” he says, adding, hardly any hunter follows the rules as provided in the wildlife act.