Written by: Dr. Duska H. Saiyid
Posted on: June 20, 2023 | 
| 中文
Common leopard in the wild inside Margallah Hills National Park
We have managed to recruit about a hundred volunteers. Our outreach program was very successful because we were sharing a lot of our videos and information on social media, for which my background as a journalist helped, and that’s how we gained popularity and many new volunteers. Professor Mirza, a renowned 86-year-old biologist and is on the board of IWMB, had a two-day training camp where these volunteers were trained as eco-guards. Professor Mirza wrote a manual for them that listed all the species in the MHNP, and explained how a national park functions. After the two-day training certificates, T-shirts and caps were given to the trainees. A WhatsApp group has been made of the more active members of the volunteers, and they go up every weekend and clean up the trails, except for trail 6, which has been declared a leopard preserve and is now closed to the public except for guided tours. The MHNP is a good place for young people to de-stress and do what the Japanese call “forest bathing”, with all its virtues.
View from atop the newly renovated Ridge Trail inside MHNP
Soon after Rina took over as Chair of the IWMB she discovered that there were leopards living on Trail 6, so they closed off the trail and preserved their habitat, and succeeded in getting the wildlife back, including pangolins and barking deer. Trail 6 is the most beautiful trail; however, the leopards are not restricted to trail 6 only. We found a dead leopard in Sanyiari recently and we carried out a post mortem and it seems to have died of natural causes. A female leopard was also found dead near the Nicholson Monument a few months ago, hit by a truck. Someone had taken pictures of it, but we didn’t find the body of the leopard. We keep track of these incidents. We advise visitors not to go very early or late in the evenings into the national park. We don’t allow pets, because leopards love dogs and it is dangerous both for the owner and the pet. Humans and leopards can co-exist. Leopards are shy and they avoid humans, unless threatened. The wild boar population has been reduced in the National Park by the leopards (who prey on them), and it is a good thing because their large numbers were damaging for the forest.
A leopard caught by a camera trap at night in the MHNP
Some of our camera traps have been stolen, and we are trying to get funding from WWF-Pakistan for new ones to carry out a latest study of the leopards residing in the MHNP, because the last study we did was two years ago. We think there are eight leopards minimum living inside MHNP. Each leopard has different markings on its forehead, so we run them through our database to see if there are any new additions or have any died or disappeared. For this the camera traps are very important.
We are waiting for our new Nature and Wildlife Management Act for Islamabad to be passed, but it has been delayed because of the political uncertainty. The Act has been through the Establishment Division and the Finance Ministry, but now we are waiting for it to be presented to the Cabinet. Once that is passed, we will be able to charge a small fee for visitors to our trails and that will make our Wildlife Board self-sufficient. We carried out a survey, and five thousand visitors go just on Trail 5 on weekends. We ask for voluntary donations for the group tours that we conduct on the trails. People ask us why we don’t fine those who litter, but we are not allowed by the current Islamabad Wildlife Ordinance (1979) that governs us, however, just a fine of Rs 1000/ would be a good deterrence. The new Chairman CDA has given one of our senior staff members magisterial powers, and she can now give challans. But that’s just one person. Once our new Act is passed, all our wildlife guards will have the powers to fine those who litter. We don’t allow food on the trails but we do allow water bottles because people can get dehydrated while hiking, but sadly people just throw those plastic bottles in the National Park area.
We are against garbage bins on the trails because they are not emptied by CDA and monkeys come and throw the garbage all around, attracting wild boars. While some of the garbage from the restaurants is sent down, a significant amount plus the sewage is thrown inside the MHNP. Also, all the visitors to these restaurants throw litter on the road going up. People who visit the MHNP must learn to respect the park and follow the etiquette required when inside the national park: smoking, playing loud music and littering are just not acceptable. Smoking can start fires, especially during the dry season when it is also the nesting time for birds.
Khalij pheasants on Trail 6 early in the morning
Rina is dismissive about the 5 km road that has been announced to be built between Monal Restaurant and Bari Imam. She says that it’s been announced prematurely and has yet to get the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) approval, and they must first do an Environmental Impact Assessment mandated by the government. She says “Look at the traffic jams on the road to Monal – let us not create another Murree, touristy and full of concrete. There is no wildlife left in Murree, so let MHNP be a sanctuary for wildlife’. Shakarparian has been saved from the cricket ground, which has been moved to D12, but we must verify that it does not encroach into the MHNP.
Rina concludes that we want to make the MHNP into a model national park and be able to train people from other wildlife boards of the country. However, the passing of this Nature and Wildlife Management Act 2022 is central to all our plans for the future of the IWMB. Our Board, the only civil society led wildlife board in the country is delivering on the ground and results are visible for all to see.
A bear cub at the IWMB Rescue Center
The struggle for the IWMB and other environmentalists to keep the MHNP safe from property developers, hoteliers and landgrabbers who are out to make a quick buck is one that must be supported by all the citizens of Islamabad. The price we would all have to pay would be heavy: the destruction of Margalla Hills National Park as a wildlife sanctuary and as the green lungs of the city, providing clean air and scenic beauty.
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