Houbara Bustard

Houbara Bustard

Subject: Environment

Context: Members of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) royal family arrived in Pakistan’s Balochistan to hunt the internationally protected and highly vulnerable houbara bustard under a license issued by Pakistan’s foreign ministry

Concept:

• It is a large terrestrial bird found in parts of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The North African houbara (Chlamydotis undulata) and the Asian houbara (Chlamydotis macqueenii) are two separate species of Houbara bustard.
• It migrates in flock to the Indian subcontinent to spend winter in Pakistan, the Arabian Peninsula and nearby Southwest Asia after it breeds in Central Asia during spring in original habitat.
• It is very similar to the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (native to India).
• IUCN categorised it as
• Poaching, unregulated hunting and the degradation of its natural habitat has been major causes for decline in population of Houbara bustard.
• Wealthy dignitaries from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries arrive in the country to hunt the birds every year using hunting gear and falcons. They kill the bird for sport and also because its meat is supposed to have aphrodisiac qualities
• Pakistan has been hosting wealthy dignitaries for last few decades. But, the Supreme Court imposed a ban on hunting the houbara bustard in 2015.