A wildlife department team has arrested a suspect in Lahore’s Shalimar tehsil on charges of being involved in the online trade of rare Indian flapshell turtles, recovering one turtle from his possession.
An FIR [First Information Report] was registered against the suspect at Baghbanpura police station. The Indian flapshell turtle is a freshwater species found across South Asia and it gets its name from the femoral flaps on its plastron, which protect its limbs when it retracts into its shell.
In other wildlife enforcement operations across Punjab, Burki Hadyara police registered an FIR against a suspect accused of bird netting in Cantonment tehsil, while an illegal bird hunter was fined Rs20,000 in Chunian tehsil.
Bahawalnagar’s Assistant Chief Wildlife Ranger Urooj Zaheer led an operation in which two men were arrested for hunting wild pigeons, with an air gun recovered from them and one of the hunters was fined Rs40,000.
A raid conducted under a search warrant in Minchinabad tehsil led to the recovery of four wild parrots, one “Raa” parrot and a grey francolin (bird) while an FIR was registered against the accused.
Rajanpur’s Assistant Chief Wildlife Ranger Saima Mohsin headed a team that seized two illegal netting devices used to trap quails, with legal proceedings initiated against those involved.
In two separate operations, Assistant Chief Wildlife Ranger Mirza Abid Hussain arrested two individuals for the illegal trade of wild birds and imposed a combined fine of Rs90,000 on them.
Separately, at Kallar Kahar, 174 kanals and 17 marlas of land allocated for the Wildlife Line Kallar Kahar, Command and Control Centre, Salt Range and Wildlife Protection Centre were retrieved from illegal occupants.
