ISLAMABAD: In an interesting development, two brown bears, nourished in Punjab were set free in Khunjrab, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), for better preservation by the wildlife department in GB on Wednesday.
The brown bears were shifted from Chakwal to be freed at Rama area of Astor by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was scheduled to visit the area on Tuesday (June 6). However, his visit was cancelled for unknown reasons.
According to reliable sources at wildlife department, the cancellation of PM’s visit was actually in favour of the bears, who were to be set free at Rama, an unsuitable area for the highly sensitive species. The officials of wildlife department waited for PM in Astor; later, they were asked by the PM Secretariat to free the bears somewhere near the route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
PM Nawaz, after the cancellation of his visit to GB for multiple times to chair a meeting of the GB Council, had planned to visit Rama, a beautiful tourist point in Astor district of GB this time.
Following the instruction from the centre, the bears were shifted to Khunjrab National Park, which along the Karakorum Highway covers around 2,270 sqr km, and is one of the highest altitude parks in the world, adjacent to Taxkorgan Natural Reserve, China.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Ministry of Climate Change’s Biodiversity Programme Director Naeem Ashraf said the decision of shifting the brown bears was taken to save the species which is in danger of extinction.
The two female brown bears were bred at Bear Rehabilitation Sanctuary and Bioresource Research Centre (BRC) in Balkasar, Chakwal. Balkasar Bear Sanctuary, established in 2010, provides a retirement and rehabilitation home, and veterinary care for rescued bears from bear-baiting events. It houses the endangered species of Asian black bears and Himalayan brown bears.
“As the brown bears living in Khunjrab area are all male, the shifting of two female bears was aimed to aid increasing population of the species. There are less than 100 brown bears left in the area.
Deosai National Park inhabits the maximum number of brown bears in Gilgit-Baltistan,” Raja who visited Khunjrab park to monitor shifting of bears said, adding that there is proper monitoring system at Khunjrab National Park.
According to Manzar Shigri, a local journalist in Gilgit, the Khunjerab National Park provides the habitat for a number of endangered and threatened species like the snow leopard, Marco Polo sheep, and Himalayan ibex.
Unlike the national park and other specified areas, the Rama in Astor was not feasible for the brown bears, as they could have faced difficulties in finding food in the area.
From the past many years there has been a decline in the bear population due to deforestation and increased human-bear conflicts. Not only it is hunted for as a sport and killed for its crop-raiding activities, there is a whole lot of attraction to capturing young cubs and selling them in the market for the purpose of bear fighting, dogfights and training them to dance in a circus.
Bears in Pakistan face imminent threats with a lack of awareness, among people being the most important threat, ignoring their ecological importance.
Main threats to bears include habitat degradation and hunting for gall bladder, fats, bones and skin. The long-term survival of this species depends on protecting them, including their habitat.