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Kirthar, Hingol species need hunting to survive

By Irfan Aligi

KARACHI: Arab and western hunters have posed a great threat to the wildlife in Pakistan at the two largest game sites, Kirthar National Park (KNP) of Sindh and Hingol National Park (HNP) of Balochistan, sources told Daily Times.

“It is necessary to give permission for hunting to maintain wildlife population. If hunting were not allowed, the population of different species of birds and animals would face congestion and a paucity of food and water,” said sources.

According to them, 80 percent of the funds raised by shooting permits is being spent on the wellbeing of members of the community in the vicinity of the park instead of wildlife protection.

The Sindh Wildlife Management Board seriously lacks manpower, patrol vehicles, electronic equipment, recreational resorts, animal monitoring tools and, most of all, interest from the ministry of culture and tourism, board sources told Daily Times.

The Kirthar National Park was listed by the United Nations in 1974. It is the second biggest in size to the Hingol National Park, which is spread over 1,650 km starting from the Makran coast in Balochistan, 190 km away from Karachi. The area was declared a protected area in 1988. Kirthar park is about 1,192 square miles and naturally inherits wildlife and culture. One-third of the Kirthar park lies in Karachi and the rest in Jamshoro and the south-west of Dadu.

The park is part of 4,471.61 km of protected areas - Mahal Kohistan Wildlife Sanctuary (705.77 km), Hub Dam Wildlife Sanctuary (272.19 km), the Surjan, Sumbak, Eri and Hothiano game reserves (406.32 km each) behind the park and more.

The SWMB operates two recreational resorts, Khar and Karchat and the KNP has 671 km of road, added the sources.

The unabated shooting has resulted in the decline of wildlife, especially the ibex and urial, but, after extensive efforts from the SWMB, the two precious animals are no longer in danger of extinction, said the sources.

When the KNP was made into a protected area, the total number of ibex and urial was 300 and 2,500 respectively, but, by the year 2000, the SWMB managed to ascertain that the number increased to 5,000 and 3,000 respectively. Sources also claimed that a team of wildlife experts from the University of Melbourne, Australia conducted an aerial survey and reported the number of ibex and urial at 9,000 and 12,000 respectively.

The KNP (1,192 square miles) has only 110 employees and there are a total of 834 in all national parks in Sindh. The SWMB attempted to allow the breeding of ibex and urial in captivity, but the ibex failed to reproduce any offspring in captivity and had a tendency to pass away. The urial, however, gave satisfactory results for breeding under captivity, but, due to a lack of funds, the project ended prematurely.

The KNP is rich with monitor lizards, stripped hyenas, desert wolves, Indian foxes, Sindh wild goats, Blandford’s urials, honey badgers, Indian pangolins, caracals, jungle cats, jackals, chinkara gazelles, black buck, hedgehogs, porcupines, Indian grey mongooses, Cairo spiny mice and the rock mice, rock pythons, Sindh cobras, Russell’s viper, saw-scaled vipers, Sindh kraits, royal rat snakes, tortoises, yellow monitor lizards and different lizard and chameleon species, sources informed.

At the Northern edge there is a village known as Nang Sharif, where the presence of pythons has been reported. The Sindh leopards, which have now vanished, were once part of the KNP, but, after the Hub Dam was constructed, its presence became a tale of the past.

The Sindh crocodile is also reported to be extinct, but, a few have been reportedly seen in the larger Sindh lakes, including Kenjhar Lake and Haleji Lake. A number of Sindh crocodiles are also kept captive at a pond situated at the Shrine of Manghopir Karachi.

According to other sources, there were 1,480 wild goats and 430 urials in 1977. Presently, there are 5,000 wild goats, 1,250 urials and 150 chinkaras in the park. Four-hundred wild goats and 70 urials are found in the game reserve.

The United States of America handed over 15 black bucks to the KNP and they were kept at the Khar Visitor Centre for the purpose of breeding under captivity.

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