Heritage: State of Wildlife in Sindh

[Gul Agha <agha@CS.UIUC.EDU>]

>From: BHITTAI@aol.com

Hi Friends of the Nature:

I thought the following article was an eye opening article just
published in Daily Dawn.  I am sorry if you have already seen it.
What a pitty that injustices meted out to Sindh have also befallen on
its wildlife as well.  Regards.

Altaf Memon
_______________________________

Altaf A. Memon, Ph.D.
Professor & Director
Environmental Management Program
University of Maryland UC
Adelphi, MD.
_________________________________

Call of the wild

By Bhagwandas

Until the middle of the last century, Sindh could boast of an
environment conducive to wildlife. Sightings of leopards, gavial,
blackbuck, the great Indian bustard, wild ass, hog deer, Sindh Ibex,
Urial, wolf, fox, peacocks, crocodile, various species of birds, and
reptiles were common and travellers to towns dotting rural Sindh often
came across these animals roaming carelessly along the many dusty
roads.

Though advancements in technology has facilitated mankind immensely,
it is unfortunate that wildlife has also been endangered because of
it. Hunting animals has been a prevalent practice since the Stone Age
- first for food and then as part of an adventure - but wildlife still
survived because many of the animals were necessary to maintain a
natural infrastructure.

Pleasure hunting, at one time was restricted to the aristocracy who
would flaunt their long-horned trophies of the Marcopolo Sheep, Sindh
Ibex, or leopards and tiger skins on the walls of their drawing
rooms. Later, the urban industrial class, which suddenly found itself
swimming in money started following suit, perhaps in a bid to rub
shoulders with the aristocracy. With the bureaucrats not wanting to be
left behind, and also joining the hunting bandwagon, wildlife in this
country lost all its chances of survival. While the rural aristocracy
and sometimes the urban industrial class find themselves being
prosecuted by the wildlife department - whenever the government wants
to teach a lesson to its opponents - bureaucrats have so far not been
punished for hunting mercilessly. Even if some small-time wildlife
official registered a case of poaching against a high official, the
report was always dismissed during investigations. Though a DIG, an
SSP, a DC and many SDMs have been booked and waterfowl, birds,
chinkaras, and other wildlife poached by them recovered, none of them
has ever been convicted.

Even members of the judiciary have added to this apathy. An incident
reminds one of a former chief justice of the Sindh High Court, Kamal
Mansoor Alam, who was later elevated to the Supreme Court and then
subsequently retired due to the PCO issue, who forcibly entered a
restricted area in the border region. The Rangers manning the
check-post wrote official letters to the federal interior ministry and
other relevant departments to advise them that such respectable
personalities must show respect for the law.

While influential persons have successfully played their part in
gradually eliminating the wildlife of this country, successive
governments on their part have also played havoc with the various
protected areas like the Kirthar National Park, Haleji Lake (a
wildlife sanctuary) and Lungh Lake (a game reserve).

When Kirthar National Park (KNP) was faced with the threat of
extinction of its animals nearly a decade ago, foreign donor agencies
ensured precautionary steps, but the Sharif government at the time
hardly batted an eyelid.

Among the obvious dangers faced by wildlife, one is the shrinking of
its habitat and its subsequent degradation. The population explosion
has resulted in the clearing of forests, and wilderness so that land
could be used for residential, industrial and agricultural
purposes. The rampant usage of chemical fertilizers and pesticides
contaminates the food-chain while the agricultural run-off pollutes
water bodies, thus also affecting the wildlife of any given area.

Some of the wildlife species which have been eliminated or are under
severe threat, have been detailed in this discourse to provide a clear
picture about why attention needs to be focused on the need for
conservation in this country.

Blackbuck

This species of deer roamed around in almost all the arid areas of
Sindh, particularly in the Nara desert of Khairpur, in abundance. In
the early part of the last century, a few animals were gifted to the
state of Texas in the United States. Later, when poachers and ruthless
hunters wiped out the entire blackbuck population from that very
area. The blackbucks that had been previously gifted to America had
been released into the wilderness and over the years had
multiplied. Currently, they comprise over 50,000. When their number
became sufficient, the Texas authorities started issuing permits for
blackbuck hunting. When the Texan authorities were informed of the
extinction of these animals from their habitat, a few pairs were
re-sent to Sindh in the 1980s, so that they could be released in their
original environment. The Sindh Wildlife Department started a captive
breeding programme and now, though blackbucks have multiplied in
number, they have not yet been released in the wild. Presently, they
total approximately 2,000. They are kept in captivity at Khar Centre,
Mahrano Centre, Lal Sunhara Park, Keti Jatoi and Mehar Khangarh.

Crocodiles

These reptiles reside in the Nara Canal and many desert area wetlands
in Sanghar, Nawabshah and adjoining districts. Due to the high value
of crocodile skin, these are frequently killed by poachers. But, they
are commonly found in their habitat. The SWD has also started a
captive breeding project and the number of crocodiles is multiplying
at breeding enclosures at the Khar Wildlife Research Centre and Haleji
Lake. Some of these have also been released into Haleji Lake. This
also acts as a deterrent for fishermen, who entered the lake at night
and caught fish illegally.

Leopard

This animal from the cat family was found in fairly large numbers in
the arid zones of Kohistan and in the Thar desert bordering the
deserts and the dry region of Rajasthan and the southern Punjab on the
Indian side of the border.  The last leopard in Pakistan was hunted in
the mid 70s in the Kirthar range.  However, in two separate incidents,
the leopards, still living in fairly large numbers in the Rann of
Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary, on the other side of the border, crossed
over and entered the Pakistani portion of the Thar Desert in the
90s. Since the animal was extinct in Pakistan, when it was sighted it
should have been protected. But, on both the occasions, poachers
killed these animals. And the poachers, rather than being punished,
were awarded prizes and cash rewards by the Tharparkar district
administration, which shows how much the concerned deputy
commissioners of Tharparkar respected the law.

Sarus cranes

These were found in large numbers in the Thar Desert and even in the
Larkana district many decades ago. But gradually they were hunted
down. Last year, only two pairs were sighted at the Nalyasar and
Bhansar lakes in the Nagarparkar area of the Thar Desert. A policeman
shot one of these rare birds and the other flew away. Until now, there
has been no report of any more sightings though they are still found
in big numbers on the Indian side.

Marine turtles

Marine turtles have been declared as an endangered species as they are
few in number and rare all over the world. Beaches in Karachi such as
Hawkesbay and Sandspit are two of eleven such beaches where the two
species of turtles - Green Turtles and Olive Ridley - come to lay
eggs. The Sindh Wildlife Department initially responsible for the
turtle conservation project, has stopped funding for this programme.

Turtles are tagged to study their migration pattern. A few SWD tagged
turtles have been sighted in Indian coast of Gujrat, Iran, and even as
far as Africa.

Sindh ibex and urial

These rare animals found in the rocky mountains of the Kohistan were
on the verge of extinction about a couple of decades ago, until their
habitat in the Kirthar range was declared a protected area in the
early 70s.

Indus dolphin

The population of the Indus dolphin in the 170-kilometre Dolphin
Reserve, which is the Indus river between the Guddu and Sukkur
barrages, presently stands at nearly 500.

Despite living in a protected area, this species has not shown an
increase in number because of water pollution, habitat destruction,
etc. which might have affected the reproductive system of the Indus
dolphin. Originally inhabitants of the sea, these dolphins that were
captured in the rivers, adapted themselves to the silt-infested turbid
river waters. They lost their eyesight but nature compensated them
with a highly developed sonar system, which helps them navigate and
find food.

Over a century ago, the Indus dolphin was found in large numbers in
the Indus river between Attock and the Indus delta in Sindh, besides
in Ravi, Satluj, Chenab and Jhelum rivers. Construction of barrages
and dams have shrunk the habitat of the dolphin.

These dolphins sometimes slip away into the irrigation canals during
the high flood in the monsoon season when the barrage gates are opened
to maintain the water-level.

At least 10 dolphin deaths - four males and six females - have been
reported in Nara and Rohri canals of the Sukkur Barrage in the past
five years.

Houbara bustards and falcons

Both of these are migratory species that visit the country during the
winter months to avoid the severe weather in their colder central
Asian habitat.  Rulers and their family members from the Gulf States
are issued special houbara hunting permits. Falcons, which are used to
hunt the houbaras, are netted and sold to the Arabs for Rs 5
million. It is a known fact that Arab royalty lets loose their highly
pampered peregrine and saker falcons and enjoy deathly games while
sitting in their air-conditioned four-wheel drive vehicles. The
falcons bring back the half-eaten and profusely bleeding houbara back
to their masters. Both houbara bustards and peregrine and saker
falcons are highly endangered and rare and their hunting or trapping
is banned under the law.

The Worldwide Fund for nature (WWF) started a campaign against houbara
hunting by the Arabs a few years ago, but it was called off when the
government requested the WWF top executives - all of whom are top
industrialists and businessmen - to call it off. The chief of WWF
Pakistan, Mukhtar Ahmad Chaudhry has also established a Houbara
Foundation and has set up a couple of houbara rescue and
rehabilitation centres, one of which is in the Cholistan desert
(Rahimyarkhan) - situated in-between the palace and the hunting area
of Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahiyan of Abu Dhabi. The multi-million
dollar foundation, according to Brigadier Mukhtar, is funded by, "some
like-minded conservationists who do not want to be named."