- Fahd bin Sultan is said to have killed 1,977 houbara bustards in 21 days
- He had been granted a permit to kill a certain number within a small area
- But it is claimed he far exceeded his allowance and hunted in banned zone
- Arab royals have long hunted houbara, considering its meat an aphrodisiac
- Bird is covered by protection laws but Pakistan can grant special permits
- Hunting sees global houbara population shrink by 30 per cent annually
Daily Mail,
John Hall, 22 April 2014
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| Hunt: Fahd bin Sultan is said to have killed 1,977 houbara bustards in just 21 days while on holiday |
Prince Fahd
bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud - who is commonly known as Fahd bin Sultan -
is said to have killed 1,977 near-extinct houbara bustards while on a 21-day
trip to Chagai in Pakistan's Balochistan province in January.
An
additional 123 bustards - which are covered by laws to protect endangered
species - were slaughtered by members of the prince's travelling party,
bringing the total killed to 2,100.
Fahd bin
Sultan, 63 -the governor of Saudi Arabia's Tabuk Province and the second eldest
son of late Crown Prince Sultan - is accused of hunting illegally in protected
areas, according to a report by Karachi-based Dawn News.
The website
claims to have seen a document titled ‘Visit of Prince Fahd bin Sultan bin
Abdul Aziz Al Saud regarding hunting of houbara bustard' which they say was
prepared by Jaffar Baloch - a divisional officer in the local forest and
wildlife department.
The report
allegedly says the prince and his party hunted for 21 days - from Jan 11, 2014
to Jan 31 - and had been granted special permits by the Pakistani federal
government which allow important visitors to bypass laws preventing the hunting
of houbaras.
These permits
still require the recipient to kill no more than 100 birds over a 10-day period
however, and only allow them to do so in certain areas.
More...
It is not
known if Fahd bin Sultan or any or his party will face punishments for
violating the rules over how many birds they killed and for hunting with
falcons outside the specified areas.
Houbaras
are highly valued by Arab royals, who consider the meat to be an aphrodisiac.
For decades
sheikhs have travelled to remote areas of Pakistan in time for the bird to make
its winter migration from Central Asia. India banned the hunting of houbaras in
early 1979.
The ongoing hunting in Pakistan has seen global houbara numbers fall to around 110,000 - with that figure decreasing by between 20 and 30 per cent every year.
 |
| At risk: Hunting in Pakistani sees the global houbara population shrink by between 20 and 30 per cent annually. Houbaras are highly valued by Arab royals, who consider their meat to be an aphrodisiac |
The ongoing hunting in Pakistan has seen global houbara numbers fall to around 110,000 - with that figure decreasing by between 20 and 30 per cent every year.
After a
particularly aggressive hunting season last year, Pakistan introduced an
interim ban on killing the birds.
The move
proved popular with local environmental campaigners who have grown tired of
Arab sheikhs flouting hunting laws, but the Pakistani government appears to
have subsequently eased the restrictions, issuing at least 33 houbara hunting
permits already this year.
One reason
they are likely to have done so is because Arab royals bring a huge economic
boost to the poor regions in which they hunt.
They are
said to travel in a convoy of private jets while on safari, with some transport
planes given over purely to falcons and hunting equipment.
The sheikhs
also make large donations while travelling in Pakistan's poor rural areas -
paying for new schools and mosques to be built, as well as funding the repair
of rundown roads and airports.
Read more:
Arab royal hunts down 2,100 houbara bustards in three week safari
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