Houbara bustard population falls in Punjab

The population of houbara bustard has declined in Punjab province over the three-year period from 20172019, suggesting that hunting of the bird in the province is not sustainable, says a report recently approved by the Houbara Bustard Commission.

Appointed by the Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice in 2017, the commission was tasked with conducting field surveys to assess whether the hunting of houbara bustard was sustainable.

“The overall estimated population of houbara (bustard) in Punjab was 6,223, 6,759 and 5,302 individuals during December 2017, December 2018 and December 2019 surveys, respectively, suggesting a decrease in the population of houbara in Punjab province over the years,” says a report of the commission.

This report dated December 26, 2019 follows two earlier reports of the commission - the final report dated February 25, 2018 and the supplemental report dated February 8, 2019.

According to the findings of the recent report, estimates of houbara bustard population for 2019 when compared with those of 2018 and 2017 have shown decrease in Cholistan (from 4,299 in 2017 to 3,575 in 2019) and Thal area (from 591 in 2017 to 0 in 2019).

However, a slight increase was observed in RajanpurRojhan area (1,333 in 2017 and 1,880 in 2018) when compared between 2017 and 2018 and decrease (1,880 in 2018 and 1,727 in 2019) when compared between 2018 and 2019.

During the December 2019 surveys, it was observed that more feeding points were established in the sampled transects after 2017 and 2018 surveys at the Cholistan site. Further, it was reported that about 500 captive birds were released at the Cholistan site in September 2019 before the surveys.

A few birds tagged at both legs were also observed during the survey. The addition of feeding points and captive birds in the counts has also affected the comparison of 2018 and 2017 results.

The LHC had imposed a complete ban on hunting houbara bustard and other rare migrating birds in January 2018 till a final survey of the hunting areas by a commission.

Lawyer Sheraz Zaka and Kalim Ilyas on behalf of petitioners had submitted that houbara bustard was a vulnerable species and that the government should be restrained from allowing hunting permits before the next survey to be held in November.