Degradation of environment and dwindling farming due to armed conflict and deforestation have deprived migratory birds of potential feeding sites, causing reduction in population of such birds, especially falcons, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Area, wildlife conservators said.
Migratory birds from Siberia, central Asian states, China, Russia and Afghanistan start arriving in Pakistan in August and September and stay in deserts and foothills of arid areas of the KP and Fata.
“Pakistan is home to the world’s best falcons, but their population is dwindling due to destruction of habitat and degradation of environment because of conflict where these migratory stayed to find foodstuff such as reptiles, mammals, small birds, etc” said a wildlife expert.
The species are in great demand as the Arab nationals used them for falconry, particularly for hunting houbara bustard in Pakistan and other countries. The large-scale trapping, hunting and dealing of falcons was in full swing when the ‘Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Wild Fauna and Flora’ declared it an endangered specie in 2005, prompting Pakistan to place complete ban on issuance of licences to the hunters and dealers the same year.
Usually from September through January, scores of foreigners visit the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to buy falcons of their choice from the market which is fed by trappers active in the KP and Fata. Falcons are monogamous birds and their reproduction rate is very slow. The female lays two eggs annually and usually only one chick survives.
According to conservators, it was the females which were trapped as these are preferred for falconry. Despite migratory falcons, the KP and Fata also have indigenous species, especially Falcon Sarkar, found abundantly in Chitral, Swabi, Swat, Buner, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda, Peshawar, Bannu and DI Khan.
Falcons’ prices range between Rs1 million to Rs10 million and these birds are kept as a status symbol in Gulf countries. Falcons are also trapped in Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab.
A wildlife official said that only this year over 20 falcons had been confiscated and released. He said that they had involved communities to put brakes on illegal poaching of falcons by establishing village conservation committees. “This strategy has worked and we still host 8,000 falcons despite destruction of habitat,” he claimed. The provincial wildlife department in collaboration with the forest department was working on habitat improvement for falcons to encourage plantation and farming through incentives to the concerned population, the official said.
He said that only 450 field workers were not enough to stop illegal hunting of falcons in the province. Each of the workers, who have no vehicles, is responsible for average 200 square kilometers area, while the trappers had all the facilities, he said.
“We need more staff to conserve the species,” he said.
