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Dear Reader:

Pakistan is the last habitat of a beautiful bird, called Houbara Bustard. This bird’s meat is considered as an aprodisiac, by the rulers of UAE.  This has lead to near extinction of this bird in Pakistan in the provinces of Balochistan and southern Sindh..  Pakistan is ruled by a corrupt government lead by Asif Zardari, who has a home in UAE and has stashed over $2 billion in UAE banks.  Zardari is close friends with UAE rulers and invites them to hunt in the province of Sindh, where the natural habitat of this poor and helpless bird, the Houbara Bustard exists. Asif Zardari has issued new hunting licences to the UAE rulers to hunt the Houbara Bustard.  This action will be the final step in the extinction of this bird. 

Houbara Bustard (photo by Jim Bleak)

The people of South Asia and the World  must protest against this mass killing of nature’s helpless creature.  This creature belongs to all humanity.  We are all responsible for its existence. 

The Qur’an Majeed states that man has dominion over animals: “He (God) it is Who made you vicegerents on earth.” (Qur’an 35:39), but makes clear that this responsibility is not unconditional and states what happens to those who misuse their freedom of choice and fail to conform to the conditions that limit this responsibility: “then We reduce him (to the status of) the lowest of the low.” (Qur’an 95:4,5) “…they are those whom Allah has rejected and whom He has condemned….because they served evil” (Qur’an 5:63). “…they have hearts wherewith they fail to comprehend, and eyes wherewith they fail to see, and ears wherewith they fail to hear….Such (humans) are far astray from the right path. (Qur’an 7:179).

There are…people who take the concept of man’s dominion over animals as a licentious freedom to break all the established moral rules designed to protect animal rights. The Hazrat Ali R.A. has this to say about (those who misuse their authority over the weak): “A savage and ferocious beast is better than a wicked and tyrant ruler.” (Maxims, see Ref. No. 4, pp. 203, 381).

Again, the Qur’an Majeed urges in remonstrance: “And be not like those who say, ‘we have heard’, while they do not hearken. Verily, the vilest of all creatures, in the sight of Allah, are those deaf and dumb ones who do not use their rationality.” (Qur’an 8:21,22).

The Bible actually has much to say in regard to animal abuse. In the beginning, God created the earth and all the creatures on it to be under the authority of humanity. He entrusted these beautiful elements of His creation to our care (Genesis 1:26). Our sinful nature causes us to abuse the animal kingdom, sometimes without even realizing it. Yet, God expects the Christian, above all others, to be sensitive to all of His creation, knowing that exploiting or abusing it shows a disrespect for God Himself. Abuse of anything that God made is not the character of God, but rather of the Evil One.

The Talmud tells the story of a great rabbi, Judah Ha-Nasi, who was punished with years of kidney stones and other painful ailments because he was insensitive to the fear of a calf being led to slaughter; he was relieved years later when he showed kindness to animals. (Talmud Baba Metzia 85a)

In the Torah, humanity is given dominion over animals (Gen. 1:26), which gives us the right to use animals for legitimate needs. Animal flesh can be consumed for food; animal skins can be used for clothing. The Torah itself must be written on parchment (animal hides), as must the scrolls for mezuzot and tefillin, and tefillin must be made out of leather.

However, dominion does not give us the right to cause indiscriminate pain and destruction. We are permitted to use animals in this way only when there is a genuine, legitimate need, and we must do so in the manner that causes the animal the least suffering. Kosher slaughtering is designed to be as fast and painless as possible, and if anything occurs that might cause pain (such as a nick in the slaughtering knife or a delay in the cutting), the flesh may not be consumed. Hunting for sport is strictly prohibited, and hunting and trapping for legitimate needs is permissible only when it is done in the least painful way possible.

“One is dearest to God who has no enemies among the living beings, who is nonviolent to all creatures.”Bhagavad Gita,

Big-game hunting is banned in Pakistan by government regulations, except community-controlled areas with an existing limitation on exact kinds and numbers of species as well as countries they can be exported in. There is decline in such species as cranes, geese, storks, pelicans, and houbara bustards – and these are just migratory birds. The illegal hunting is leading to the continuous loss, fragmentation and degradation of natural habitats that include forests, rangelands, and freshwater and marine ecosystem. Some species in Pakistan are already extinct, and many are internationally threatened. The 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals classifies 37 species and 14 sub-species of mammals that occur in Pakistan as internationally threatened or near-threatened. The Red List is based upon field data that is more than 20 years old and needs to be reassessed. One can only imagine how the situation with endangered species has changed during these years. The country also provides critical habitat to 25 internationally threatened bird species and 10 internationally threatened reptiles.

There are a lot of organizations that were formed to protest the illegal hunting and preserve the wildlife. This includes National Council for Conservation of Wildlife (NCCW), established in 1974 and supported by the UN, which breaks into three groups:

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIES),
• Convention on Wetland of International Importance, Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar) and
• Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

Some of other organizations not mentioned that play important roles in fighting against illegal hunting are WWF-Pakistan, Torghar Conservation Project (TCP), DAWN independent newspaper, and National Avian Research Center and Houbara Foundation in Pakistan. Also, the Pakistani government enacted the Wildlife Conservation and Preservation Act of 1975, ratified the Convention of Biological Diversity, and in 1994 has also prepared a Biodiversity Action Plan.

Due to corruption a lot of the programs are not enforced the way that they should be. One important issue today is the slow disappearance of the houbara bustard, a migratory bird that flies to Pakistan from former Soviet territory. The bird had been hunted in the Middle East to the point of near-extinction by the nineteen-sixties, and by 1975 it was declared an endangered species in Pakistan. In 1983 at an international wildlife symposium in Peshawar, Pakistan, it was agreed that Pakistan’s migratory houbara population was numbered somewhere between twenty and twenty-five thousand birds and a more recent data gathered by the DAWN newspaper showed that in 2002 it was around thirty thousand birds. The legal hunting on houbara bustards implies purchasing a permit license, the amount of which differs throughout the regions of Pakistan. According to independent Dawn newspaper, the Punjab wildlife department along with banning hunting of houbara bustard requires “to pay Rs5,000 (approximately $90.5 as of Dec.4 2003 rate) for each bird as a compensatory amount, besides paying as much and surrendering hunting equipment and vehicles”. (http://www.dawn.com/2003/10/26/local29.htm 12/01/2003).

However, according to the same article, this rule has been relaxed by the Department itself recently to accommodate Arab dignitaries, who set up fourteen hunting camps in this part of the country. The bird is widely popular among Arab hunters due to traditional beliefs, starting with the old customs and traditions and ending with houbara’s meat qualities, which Arabs consider to be aphrodisiac while in reality it is diuretic. This outrageous instance, however, was ignored by Houbara foundation, one of the most resourceful NGOs in the country aimed to protect the prey bird and, moreover, the local police even arranged security camps for the protection of�foreign hunters. When asked for the reason of the license cancellation for Arab hunters the department officials told that they were given “the fee equivalent to the sum submitted by local hunters in the province against the cancellation of their permits.” (http://www.dawn.com/2003/10/26/local29.htm12/01/2003).

The corruption and inability of government to regulate legal hunting makes the preservation methods ineffective and increases the incentive from local people for illegal hunting. There are a lot of occurrences when there is no reliable data on both legal and illegal hunting, which makes it hard to assess the progress made so far by these programs. According to conservation officials, Arab hunting parties are bagging at least six thousand birds a year, not taking the smuggling into account, which is estimated to be around four thousand birds a year. (http://www.dawn.com/2002/01/15/nat26.htm 12/01/2003).

To meet the Arabian demand for houbara bustards seven thousand live birds enter the UAE illegally and because of bad conditions of detention and containment many of them die during the journey from Pakistan, Iran and Central Asia.

According to researchers from the Abu Dhabi based, National Avian Research Center (NARC) the decline in population of houbara bustard is viewed not only as a result of hunting, but also as a destruction of their wintering and breeding habitat. On the 28th of February 1995 the United Arab Emirates (UAE) became the first country in the world to have tracked houbara bustard through satellite techniques both on their northerly and southerly migrations. The research was done through fitting a tiny satellite transmitter onto the back of the bird and observing the route through the data processing computer in France. The observation helped researchers to find out the different routes of these birds and lead to an international agreement between UAE and Kazakhstan, which allowed NARC researchers to travel to Kazakhstan in the springs of both 1995 and 1996 during the houbara breeding season.(http://www.datadubai.com/satbus.htm 12/02/2003).

Despite of the disappointment with short battery life that limited the ability to observe birds, the researchers hoped this study would help to detect the migratory route of houbara bustards that in its turn would add to conservation effort. Knowing the exact location of houbara’s migration will help to establish local programs related to preserving these birds, more specifically, these efforts could include diminishing farming and eliminating hunting for houbara.

Due to the large amounts of money involved, there is conflict between conservationists and officials. According to unofficial estimates, Arab sheikhs spend about ten to twenty million dollars per hunt on houbara bustards. One of the excuses Pakistani government uses is that sheikhs contribute to the local infrastructure development, which could be contradicted by the private airports that are useless for the local population and beneficial for sheikhs themselves, not to mention mosques that no one uses anyway. Adding to that is the destruction of the local ecosystem due to the massive killings of animals, as sheikhs have to support their regular 300-people camps. (Weaver, Mary Anne. “Hunting with the Sheikhs.” The New Yorker 14 Dec. 1992. Vol.68, Issue 43, p51).

Many birds and animal species are experiencing population decline because of illegal hunting for sport, meat & trade. There is a strong tradition of hunting in Pakistan and the impact of hunters has increased with the spread of modern weapons and great mobility. Virtually all-large mammals have declined in number and their range has been reduced. And if Pakistan wants to preserve its rich biodiversity, it must enforce some conservation and management.

In 1975 Pakistani government enacted the Wildlife Conservation and Preservation Act. After that it also ratified the Convention of Biological Diversity, and in 1994 it has also prepared the Biodeviersity Action Plan.

In 1974 there was an establishmet of National Council for Consevation of Wildlife (NCCW), which is supported by the UN and implemented three UN Conventions: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Convention on Wetland of International Importance Especiall as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar), and Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

Pakistan prohibits exports of most species and puts export limits on some. There is a limit on exporting houbara bustards from Pakistan, it is 200 birds per hunting party, which comes to 4800 birds annually.

Unofficial numbers show that Arab sheikhs spend from 10 to 20 million dollars per hunt. Average annual income in Pakistan is $470, which is good basis for the corruption as country’s standards of living are low. Hunting is included into agriculture sector in the Pakistani GDP where it accounts for 25-27%.

The 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals classifies 37 species and 14 sub-species of mammals that occur in Pakistan as internationally threatened or near-threatened. Pakistan also provides habitat for 25 internationally bird species and 10 internationally threatened reptiles. By nineteen-sixties houbara bustard was hunted to the point of near-extinction in the Middle East, and by 1975 it was declared an endangered species in Pakistan. Besides houbara, other major projects for bio-diversity conservation in Pakistan are: Chilgoza Forests and Suleman Markhor, Ibex of the Bar Valley, Wetlands, migratory birds of Chitral, and Khunjerab National Park.

According to the National Avian Research Centre in Abu Dhabi, with houbara’s birth rate of 5 per cent a year and if number of houbara keeps decreasing at the same rate with more than 6,000 being bagged by hunting parties and more than 4000 smuggled out of country, the worst scenario is that the houbara bustard would disappear as the species by 2015.

Houbara hunting is deeply ingrained into Arab culture and they have been fascinated by it for hundreds of years. According towww.alshindagah.com, the descriptions of the houbara hunting date as far back as seven hundred years ago.