ISLAMABAD: About 6,000 falcons are smuggled out of Pakistan every year and mostly sold in the Middle East.
According to sources in the Ministry of Climate Change, these falcons usually migrate after escaping the harsh winters of Siberia to warmer regions in the south.
“Thousands of these birds are trapped during their transit through Pakistan, where they stop to rest. The rate at which falcons are trapped is so high that international conferences have been called in the recent past to find solutions to the massive decline in falcon population in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizstan and Turkmenistan,” a senior official of the climate change ministry said. He added that the major cause of the decline is the demand for falconry in the Middle East.
According to the officials, there are several methods of smuggling falcons out of Pakistan through Afghanistan and Iran.
In some cases, the falcons that Arab sheikhs bring with them to Pakistan on their hunting trips do not go back with them.
