ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) was informed on Monday that two Himalayan brown bears would be sent to an overseas sanctuary for a specific time till a sanctuary for the animals was constructed in the country.

The counsel for the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) told this to a single bench of Chief Justice Athar Minallah, during hearing of a case related to implementation of the court's verdict on shifting of all animals at the Marghazar Zoo to suitable sanctuaries.

During the hearing, Barrister Sardar Ijaz Ishaq for Naheed S Durrani, secretary Ministry of Climate Change and Barrister Danyal Hassan, the counsel for the chairperson of the IWMB, informed the court that the board, in its meeting held on 11th Dec deliberated regarding the relocation of the two Himalayan brown bears to an appropriate sanctuary.

They told that the board, after obtaining opinions from the experts, had decided to relocate forthwith, the two brown bears, namely, Suzie and Bubloo, to a sanctuary established in the Kingdom of Jordan.

The IHC bench observed in its order that it was heartening for this court to note that the board had correctly appreciated the jurisprudence laid down in its judgment, dated 21-05-2020, passed in WP No 1155/2019, titled "Islamabad Wildlife Management Board through its Chairman v Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad through its Mayor and 4 others".

It mentioned that the natural habitat of Suzie and Bubloo, the two incarcerated brown bears, was the high altitude plateau of Deosai National Park in the Himalayas. It was indeed inhumane to have deprived them living in their natural habitat merely for the entertainment of the human species.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020