Customs recover 11 houbara bustards in Karachi raid

KARACHI: Customs officials have recovered illegally caught 11 houbara bustards in a raid near Mochko, quoting officials ARY News reported on Monday.

“Recovered birds will be handed over to the Wildlife Department,” Customs authorities said in a statement.

The birds were being tried to smuggle out of the country, officials further said.

The bird is considered as “vulnerable” specie and its population in Pakistan has declined dramatically over the years put it in danger of extinction.

The hunting of houbara bustard is officially banned but it used as foreign policy tool and government allows influential nationals of the Arabian Gulf states to hunt the bird for a price tag of 100,000 USD.

Recently Levies had arrested seven Qatari nationals for poaching houbara bustard in Balochistan’s Nushki district including members of the royal family of the Gulf state.

These birds lives in arid habitats of Iran. The bird, native to Southwest Asia and North Africa, is in danger of extinction mainly due to hunting.

The bird has become a popular game bird for illegal hunters coming from Persian Gulf states to hunt it with their trained birds of prey.