Islamabad:

Pakistan's supreme court on Friday lifted a ban on the hunting of the Houbara bustard, an endangered migratory bird, whose meat is prized by elite Arab sheikhs for its aphrodisiac value.

The ban on the Houbara bustard, about the size of a chicken, was imposed by former chief justice Jawwad S Khawaja on August 20 last year; who also ordered the cancellation of all exiting permits by government to Arab rules. The federal and provincial governments in October had challenged the ban, pleading that sustainable hunting should be allowed.

The petitioners had pleaded to the SC that issuing permits for hunting of the endangered bird to Arab dignitaries was part of foreign policy

A five-member larger bench headed by chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali lifted the ban in a verdict on the review petitions, although the decision was not unanimous, with one dissenting note by justice Qazi Faez Isa, whoo opposed the bench' order.

The petitioners had pleaded that issuing hunting permits to Arab dignitaries was part of foreign policy. The atorney general Salman Buttasked the SC to allow "sustainable hunting" of the bird. Pakistan enjoys good ties with elite Arabs who love hunting Houbara using falcons and travel to Balochistan every winter to kill the bustard. The bird is listed in the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals and is declared as an endangered species.

Wildlife Package

Sarus cranes flock to Dantiwada Dam(Banaskantha, Gujarat, India)

A large number of Sarus crane have flocked to Dantiwada dam site these days much to the delight of bird lovers.

“I was surprised to see a large numbers of beautiful cranes in the shallow water,” a professor in local R.R. Mehta Science College Dr. Suresh Prajapati said. He added that is was pleasure to see around 70 cranes feeding on fishes.

He said the dam located about 30 km from Palanpur in Banaskantha district (Gujarat, India) is an arid place and these cranes rarely come to such a place.

“In all we counted 73 adult cranes. It indicates that no breeding had taken place here and all had migrated from some other place,” assistant conservator of forests at Banaskantha N.M. Bhatol said. He said, “These birds are placed under a threatened category. It is great to spot them here in the arid land. Millet fields with shallow waters and generation of awareness to some extent has led to these birds arriving here”.

Prajapati pointed that in 2010 he had spotted hardly 10 birds at the site. A bird lover Nirdosh Gupta said Sarus cranes are spotted during pre-monsoon season when the dams having meager water in their shallow bottom are ideal place for picking fishes.

Courtesy:- Times Of India