Illegal hunting, sale of migratory birds on the rise in Dadu

Author: Imdad Ali Khushik

DADU: The sale of various types of migratory birds has increased in Dadu Town.

These migratory birds are captured illegally from various parts of Manchhar lake, Indus River, Main Nara Valley Drain and Sita lake. Later, these migratory birds are sold at Katchery road, New Chowk, Station road, Machhi Market, College road and bus stands in Dadu Town.

These birds are generally sold between Rs200 and Rs250 per bird. Around 15 types of migratory birds are seen in the local market, where they have been given local names like Neerag, Arri, Koonj, Badak etc. Saeed Ahmed Mallah, a seller of Siberian birds told this scribe that he had captured 250 birds of various types from Zero Pint of Manchhar Lake with mist nets.

“I brought them all to Dadu and sold them in a single day”, he added. He disclosed that all hunters are giving bribes to the officials of the local wild life department. Another bird seller, Muhammad Naveed Mallah said that he had captured 300 Siberian and local birds from MNVD- Main Nara Valley Drain near Kakar and Chandan Mori near Johi. He said upon return after hunting he had to pay a bribe to the local police in Dadu Town.

Haji Jumoo affirmed that at least 40 groups are engaged in hunting migratory birds along the Indus River. They hunt 1000 to 2000 various types of birds daily and send them to Dadu, Larkana, Hyderabad, Karachi, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Lahore, Multan and Islamabad for sale. Nasir Panhwar, a former program coordinator of WWF- World Wildlife Fund and the executive director of the Center for Environment and Development said that the water level had reduced therefore the hunting of birds at lakes had increased in Sindh.

He said that the Wildlife Act of 1972 was revised in 2010 but it has not been implemented yet. He said there is a need to depoliticise the Wild Life Department and the district game wardens should not be appointed on a political basis in the districts. Syed Ghulam Qadir Shah, a national coordinator of IUCN- International Union for Conversation of Nature said that it was completely illegal to hunt the migratory birds.

He said that the laws should be implemented by the Wild Life Department.