Among the 500 animal species found in Afghanistan, 149 are facing the risk of extinction, the country’s environmentalists revealed, as they encounter a number of challenges ranging from poaching to climate change. 

Poaching continues to be the key reason behind plummeting numbers of rare species in Afghanistan, Azis Gul Saqeb, the director of the Kabul Zoo, said during an event last week organized on Environment Week. If the current trend continues, he warned, many of them would extinct soon. 

Significantly, Afghanistan is home to many rare birds which are not found in other parts of the world. And, for years, rich Sheikhs and prices from wealthy gulf nations have been coming to Afghanistan for hunting. The government, in return, gets revenues. 

In an unveiled reference to the practice, Mohammad Asif Noori, a lecturer at Kabul University, said, “Nowadays we see that some people come from other countries and illegally hunt birds or transfer them illegally from here.” 

In the 90s, when Afghanistan plunged into instability, this tradition grew. For warlords and militias, it offered a good source of revenue amid an almost collapsed economy. 

Even today, smugglers catch these species and sell them in the global black market. 

In 2017, Afghan border police foiled an attempt of smuggling six lions to neighboring Pakistan. 

Growing pollution, climate change are also posing risks to their existence. “When there is pollution, the birds cannot fly; and they cannot live here in areas where there is war; the birds also feel fear like a human,” Naseer Ahmad Sarwari, who is also a lecturer in the Kabul University, was quoted as saying by TOLOnews. 

Being a tribal society with strongmen culture, the practice of keeping wild and rare animals, as some sort of a status symbol,  is also popular among strongmen in Afghanistan. These practices, Sadeq said, should be discouraged. 

(SAM)