The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Ministry of Environment fined a Qatari prince Rs80,000 after he was caught with three falcons in Dera Ismail Khan.
Members of the royal families of the Gulf States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are known to travel to Pakistan each year to hunt the extremely rare Houbara Bustard.
They have already rendered the bird extinct in their respective native countries. The annual hunt has sparked controversy in recent years because of the Houbara Bustard’s dwindling numbers, with the issue also shining a spotlight on traditionally close ties between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
The Rs. 80,000 fine is not even a pinprick to the shaikhs who along with their retinue generally travel in vehicles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature includes the bird on its ‘red list’ of threatened species, estimating there are fewer than 97,000 left globally.
In complete disregard of a high court verdict, the Foreign Office continues to facilitate the hunting of the Houbara in Balochistan, going so far as sending members of the federal cabinet to the Dalbandin airport last week to receive the hunting party of Prince Fahad of Saudi Arabia.
The arabs believe that the bird’s flesh has aphrodisiacal qualities. A claim that has been completely disproved by medical science.
