Barking Deer Conservation Starts; KP's Protected Areas Enhanced To 15pc: Wildlife Chief

Khyber Pakthunkhwa Wildlife Department has started conservation of the endangered Barking Deer in Haripur district to protect the rare species from extinction

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2022 ) :Khyber Pakthunkhwa Wildlife Department has started conservation of the endangered Barking Deer in Haripur district to protect the rare species from extinction.

Dr Mohisin Farooq, Chief Conservator KP Wildlife Department told APP on Thursday that conservation of the endangered 'Barking Deer' has begun at Makhniyal Khanpur. He said conservation of rare wildlife including Barking Deer has been started at the site of a special scientific interests project exclusively developed for conservation and breeding of endangered species at Makhniyal Haripur district.

The wildlife chief said three other sites of scientific interest projects were developed at Malka Mahaband in Buner, Mangal Thana and Bharkalay Baish Banar in Swat where rare wildlife and plants species besides their habitats were being kept preserved.

He said protected areas for conservation of wildlife have been enhanced to 15 percent of the total areas of KP following completion of three new national parks in the province. Prior to the PTI Government, the protected area in KP was only 10.22 percent.

Three new national parks were established at Nazimpur Nowshera district, Kamal Band and Malakandi Kaghan in Manshera district.

With completion of these new parks, the number of total national parks in KP has increased to nine including Ayubia National Park, Broghil National Park, Chitral Gol National Park, Saiful Malook National Park, Lulusar Dudipat National Park and Sheikh Badin National Park, he added.

Dr Mohsin said a mega project was approved for conservation of biodiversity and promotion of eco-tourism through livelihood improvement at Sheikh Badin National Park in Dera Ismail Khan. Spread over about 15,540 hectares, Sheikh Badin National Park located at the junction of Dera Ismail Khan and Lakki Marwat districts would also serve as hub of ecotourism in southern districts of KP.

He said five conservancy projects were completed to promote wildlife resources in the province. These conservancies were set up at Kalam, Minkyal in Swat, Terich Targo in Chitral, Kumrat in Dir Upper, and Dir Kohistan. He said zero tolerance has been adopted against illegal hunting and strict actions would be taken against culprits.