KARACHI, Dec 25: The 36 highly rare species falcons seized by customs staff on the Jiwani coast a few days back were released into the Khirthar National Park on Monday.

At least five of them did not fly far enough when released, said one of the observers who had witnessed the release near the Hub dam wildlife sanctuary in the KNP.

Responding to Dawn queries, a representative of the Sindh Wildlife Depart-ment, Babu Palari, who had gone with customs officials to the KNP to release the falcons, said that while most falcons flew away, a few of them appeared weak or just lazy. He said the reason could be that the falcons had been kept in small cages for the past few days and had probably been released for very brief periods during their stay with the customs.

He said that when the falcons were kept in cages their eyes were shut with eye-caps and their wings were tied.

He said the falcons should have been kept in a big hall with their eye-caps on but wings free. For some time daily they should have been taken in the sun also, he suggested.

Responding to Dawn queries, customs official Wilayat Ali said since customs staff did not have the expertise to handle the precious birds, most of the time the birds were kept in cages and were taken out only for feeding. He said the falcons looked healthy and flew away when released.

Customs men had seized the falcons at Jiwani on Friday night just before they were to be smuggled out through the sea in a boat to the Arabian peninsula, where they usually fetch between $10,000 and $100,000 each.