Officers of Iran's Environment Protection Organization (IEPO) have arrested four Emirati nationals for haunting some critically endangered species of bird in the country, Press TV reported.
The managing director of the environment protection organization of the Western province of Ilam told IRNA on Tuesday that the illegal hunters are nationals of the United Arab Emirates, where falconry is one of the most popular pastimes.
Qassem Dianattalab said, "After a three-day investigation, the [IEPO] officers identified and arrested four unauthorized Emirati hunters in the district of Dehloran on Monday."
"A number of items including a shotgun, a falcon tracking device, a walkie-talkie, falcon blinders and other evidence that they had been hunting Houbara Bustard were confiscated from them," he noted.
Dianattalab went on to say that the Emirati hunters had hunted 10 Houbara Bustard, which are on the brink of extinction.
The bird is prized very much in the UAE as a quarry for falconers.
Conservation website birdlife.org lists the Houbara Bustard as vulnerable because it has undergone rapid population declines over three generations owing largely to unsustainable hunting levels, as well as habitat degradation.
According to Wikipedia, the Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis Undulata) is a large bird in the bustard family and is found in the Canary Islands, North Africa, Iran, Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan.
Iran arrests 4 over illegal hunting
Officers of Iran's Environment Protection Organization (IEPO) have arrested four Emirati nationals for haunting some critically endangered species of bird in the country.
