Dhodial Pheasantry

Last updated
Dhodial Pheasantry
Date opened1984 [1]
Location Dhodial, Mansehra District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Coordinates 34°25′14″N73°15′13″E / 34.42056°N 73.25361°E / 34.42056; 73.25361 Coordinates: 34°25′14″N73°15′13″E / 34.42056°N 73.25361°E / 34.42056; 73.25361
Land area21 acres (8.5 ha) [2]
No. of animals>4,000 [2]
No. of species38 [3] (pheasants only)
Annual visitors180,000 [4]
Major exhibits~250 [2]
Website dhodialpheasantry.com

Dhodial Pheasantry (or Dhodial Pheasant Center) is a pheasantry and breeding center for several species of pheasants situated in Mansehra District, Pakistan. It has been set up for the purposes of research, conservation, tourism, and education. The pheasantry has around 250 exhibits providing shelter to around 4,000 birds. [2]

A pheasantry is a place or facility used for captive breeding and rearing pheasants, peafowls and other related birds, which may or may not be confined with enclosures such as aviaries. The pheasants may be sold or displayed to public or used as game birds. Pheasantry may also be used for conservation and research purposes.

Mansehra District District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Mansehra District is a district in Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Mansehra district and town are named after Man Singh, a leading general of Mughal Emperor Akbar. It is an important and popular tourist destination due to the Lulusar-Dudipatsar National Park and Kaghan Valley area being located in the district and the Karakoram Highway passing through the district. It is main gateway to upper valleys of Kaghan, Naran and also to Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

Pakistan federal parliamentary constitutional republic in South Asia

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the world’s sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 212.7 million people. In area, it is the 33rd-largest country, spanning 881,913 square kilometres. Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre (650-mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, and China in the northeast. It is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in the northwest, and also shares a maritime border with Oman.

Contents

Location

Dhodial Pheasantry is located on Karakorum Highway in the village of Dhodial, Mansehra District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Abbottabad, towards the village of Shinkiari. It covers an area of 21 acres (8.5 ha). [2] The Dhodial campus of Hazara University is located near the facility.

Dhodial is a town and union council located near Baffa between Mansehra and Shinkiari in Mansehra District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Dhodial is a fertile region known for its vegetables and tobacco. Dhodial is also well known for its pheasant conservation project.The town was badly affected by the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly known as the North-West Frontier ProvinceNWFP, is one of the four administrative provinces of Pakistan, located in the northwestern region of the country along the international border with Afghanistan.

Abbottabad Place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abbottabad is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is about 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and 150 kilometres (93 mi) east of Peshawar, at an altitude of 1,260 metres (4,134 ft). Kashmir lies to the east.

History

Dhodial Pheasantry was established in 1984 by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife Department with the support of the IUCN and the World Pheasant Association. It was initially set up over an area of 4 acres (1.6 ha). [1]

International Union for Conservation of Nature World organisation

The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, and education. IUCN's mission is to "influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable".

In 2001, when Hazara University planned to expand its campus over 204 acres (83 ha), then Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Lt. Gen Iftikhar Hussain Shah ordered the pheasantry to be relocated to the Jaba Sheep Farm. The Inevitable Flight, a documentary film about this issue, was made by a Pakistani Canadian documentary filmmaker, Azfar Rizvi. This brought the issue under public scrutiny. Subsequently, other factors kicked in and mobilized enough public and political support that the relocation was cancelled. [5] [6]

Hazara University

The Hazara University (HU) is a public university, situated on the crossroads of the ancient civilization of Gandhara and Ashoka and facing the Silk Route on the outskirts of Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan which had been the ancient link between sub-continent, China and Central Asia. The university was founded in 2001. It was ranked No.28 in national and No.7 in provincial level as per HEC rankings, 2015.

Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the appointed Head of State of the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Although the Governor is the head of the province on paper, it is largely a ceremonial position; and the main powers lie with the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Lieutenant General Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah was a former governor of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Iftikhar Hussain Shah was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in October 1964 in 30th PMA Long Course and joined an anti-aircraft unit of the Regiment of Artillery. He later joined and graduated from Army Aviation School to become a pilot in the army.

Public services

An information center has been developed in the aviary to accommodate visitors, facilitate researchers, and spread awareness among local pheasant breeders. [2] More than 500 people visit the aviary daily. The entry fee for the aviary is 10 Pakistani rupees per person. [4]

Pakistani rupee currency

The Pakistani Rupee (Urdu: روپیه‎ / ALA-LC: Rūpiyah; sign: ₨; code: abbreviated as PKR, is the official currency of Pakistan since 1948.

In 2011, the aviary was closed to the public due to the supposed spread of bird flu. By July, all of the birds had been vaccinated and the aviary was opened to the public again on July 5, 2011. [4]

Avian influenza influenza caused by viruses adapted to birds

Avian influenza—known informally as avian flu or bird flu is a variety of influenza caused by viruses adapted to birds. The type with the greatest risk is highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Bird flu is similar to swine flu, dog flu, horse flu and human flu as an illness caused by strains of influenza viruses that have adapted to a specific host. Out of the three types of influenza viruses, influenza A virus is a zoonotic infection with a natural reservoir almost entirely in birds. Avian influenza, for most purposes, refers to the influenza A virus.

Conservation efforts

The cheer pheasant, which became extinct in Pakistan, was reintroduced in the region. The World Pheasants Association sent 90 eggs of the species to the Dhodial Pheasantry. Among the eggs which hatched, the mortality was high and remained high till 1995. This situation got better in 1996. In 1997, a parent flock of 40 pairs was raised and eventually reintroduction of the cheer pheasant in Hazara District was carried out. [1] As of 2007, there are around 60 pairs of cheer pheasant in the Dhodial Pheasantry. [2]

Species

Birds

Pheasants

Dhodial Pheasantry holds captive 38 of the 52 species of pheasants found in the world. Some of these include: [2] [3]

Other

Cranes
Waterfowls

Mammals

The facility also houses some species of mammals: [2] [4] [5]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Syed Imad-ud-Din Asad (2003). "Dhodial: Asia's Largest Pheasantry". wildlifeofpakistan.com. Dhodial: Dawn News . Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Dhodial providing unique environment to various species". archives.dawn.com. Dhodial: Dawn News. May 14, 2007. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  3. 1 2 "History of Dhodial Pheasantry". dhodialpheasantry.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Bird flu control: Dhodial pheasantry to re-open from July 5". tribune.com.pk. Mansehra, Pakistan: The Express Tribune - Pakistan. July 2, 2011.
  5. 1 2 Rizvi, Azfar (2008). "The Inevitable Flight". azfarrizvi.com. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Pheasantries Aviary". khyberpakhtunkhwa.gov.pk. NWFP Wildlife Department. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
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