ATTOCK: The wildlife department caught four trappers with three falcons in Damaan area of Hazro last week and imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on each of them.

This was stated by Assistant Director Wildlife Rawalpindi Region Mehvish Rauf while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

She said she had constituted teams which were active in curbing poaching.

Poachers get active in this season, when migratory birds, travelling from Siberia to southern regions of Asia, sojourn at the banks of Indus River, she said.

The assistant director said her department was cognizant of its responsibilities and was not only taking action against poachers, but saving the migratory birds from threat to their life and vaccinating them.

“We need cooperation of the local people in this regard,” she added.

She said professional bird trappers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Punjab and Attock district hunt laggar falcon, common kestrel, sparrow hawk and peregrine falcon and sold them for Rs10,000 to Rs20,000 to foreigners.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2018