The Black Buck and Chinkara Safari Hunting Trophy 2016-17 which was going on at Lal Suhanra Bahawalpur Cholistan came to an end on Wednesday.
Punjab Wildlife and Parks Director General Khalid Ayaz Khan said that a total of 24 Black Buck and 29 Chinkara deer had been hunted, costing the hunters Rs 200,000 per Black Buck and Rs 75,000 per Chinkara.
Hesham Usama Khan, owner of a private game reserve in South Africa Jacques Spamer, Frenchman Maththieu Michel Paul Roger, Pakistani-Americans Syed Iftikhar Shah and Imran Saeed, and local hunters took part in the hunting program.
He was talking to media men who met him in his office here on Wednsesday. The DG said that 43 local and international hunters had participated in the hunt, adding that He said that Hesham Usama Khan took the lead by hunting the largest Black Buck, while Nawazish Ali Khan Bosan of Multan and Hesham Usama Khan tied for the lead by hunting same sized Chinkaras.
He said that the main objective of providing hunting opportunities to lawful hunters was to promote sports hunting.
Khan said that only those animals were approved for hunting which reached to their average age and were not only unable to enhance their species’ population but had become a hurdle in increasing the population. He said that hunting of such animals who had reached their average age was a part of wildlife protection and conservation tools and was practiced all over the world. He said that after coming to a specific age, these animals suffer various diseases and ultimately die naturally very soon.
Khalid said that the Punjab Wildlife and Parks department had received a total of Rs 4.8 million from the hunters of Black Bucks and around Rs 2.1 million from the hunters of Chinkara deer. He said that 16 percent GST was also received from the hunters separately. All receipts have been deposited in the government’s treasury, he added.
