ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: A request by a Saudi prince to export 200 houbara bustards from Pakistan to his country is being considered by the government, an informed source told Dawn on Friday.

Prince Badr bin Saud bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia has sent a letter to President General Pervez Musharraf requesting special permission to export the birds to Riyadh.

It may be mentioned here that the 18th general assembly of the World Conservation Union held at Perth adopted a resolution urging the government of Pakistan to enforce a complete ban on hunting to houbara bustard, who are fast becoming extinct due to excessive hunting by foreigners.

The resolution also called upon the governments of Middle Eastern countries to help Pakistan conserve these precious birds.

Following the UN resolution, government has imposed ban on the import and export of houbara bustards in order to stop their total extinction.

The prince, however, has claimed, in his letter, that his men brought these birds to the border of Pakistan from Tajikistan.

The prince said that he should be given permission on the plea that presently there were no flights originating from Tajikistan to anywhere else in the world.

“I have a breeding farm of birds in Lennon Abad(Khoojan) in Tajikistan. I have been breeding hundreds of houbara bustards every year. We are leaving 50 per cent of these birds in the desert for their natural growth, helping the environment and taking rest to Saudi Arabia”, the prince maintained in his letter.

According to an independent survey conducted in Balochistan, about 4,000 to 5,000 birds are killed every year and there is a keen competition among our friends to excel their total bag each year.

When contacted a worker of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) working on preservation of precious birds said that local breeders are paid Rs300 per bird.

Eggs are purchased at the rate of Rs500 per egg and chicks for Rs2,000 each. These eggs and chicks are then smuggled out of the country to be used in breeding farms in the Middle East, he claimed.

“Our Arab brethren have played havoc with these beautiful birds. Unless strict ban on its hunting is immediately enforced, it is feared that this bird may become extinct in a few years to come” he remarked.

The Arab sheikhs started visiting Pakistan about two decades ago after totally destroying the population of houbara in their respective territory. Some have built palatial lodges in cities close to the hunting areas for their annual visits. They use falcons to trap houbara bustards.

Last month the customs authorities have reportedly confiscated around 250 rare falcons at the Multan airport.

Houbara bustard is a bird of the desert. It is about the size of a hen and was once common in desert and semi-desert areas of Mongolia, Middle East, and North Africa up to the Canary Islands.

It was believed that houbara bustards were winter visitors to Pakistan, coming from former USSR and Afghanistan.

Studies, however, indicate that they are to be found in the desert areas of Sindh and Balochistan. These birds are bred in the Kharam area of Balochistan. They migrate locally as well as outside Balochistan up to India.