Gulf Leaders to Visit Pakistan for Hunting Endangered Migratory Birds

Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will be visiting Pakistan for houbara bustard hunting in Balochistan.

Houbara bustard is an internationally protected bird species, whose hunting is banned in Pakistan. It, however, issues special permits to hunt the bird as a foreign policy card to influence oil-rich nations.
Earlier, Ahmed Hassan, a 10-year-old boy, had filed a plea in the Islamabad High Court, seeking a ban on hunting falcons and other endangered birds in the country.

The houbara bustard comes under the “vulnerable list” of (International Union for Conservation of Nature) IUCN. It means that the species is threatened with global extinction.

The main reasons for the bird’s decline are poaching, unregulated hunting, along with the degradation of its natural habitat.

Pakistan is also known for ‘trophy hunting’ where markhor and ibex are hunted after paying a huge amount of money. The irony is that markhor is the national animal of Pakistan.

Keeping in view its dwindling population, the houbara bustard, a migratory bird is not only protected under various international nature conservation treaties but its hunting is also banned under the local wildlife protection laws. Pakistanis themselves are not allowed to hunt this bird.