Book reveals perils faced by bustards in Kazakhstan when wealthy Arab hunters go on killing spree

                                     

Bustards - pursued by cars, then by falcons 

SHORTLY before he died aged 64, Kazakh birder Yessengali Raushanov completed the manuscript of a hard-hitting book in which he slated the rulers of his Central European homeland.

"In no other country is there a government that is so careless with the environment," he wrote.

What outraged him was that an Arab sheik tourists were being allowed to hunt great and Macqueen's bustards on payment of the equivalent of  1000 US dollars for each bird taken.

He writes: "One sheik and his entourage brought with them up to 15 saker falcons.

"They hunted birds that were hiding in the bushes, chasing them out by firing blanks from Kalashnikov rifles, then pursuing them in cars.

"When they got close enough, they released the falcons.

"Afterwards, the whole steppe smelt of blood. There was no pity, no humanity."

The author goes on to accused Muslims of committing un-Islamic actions - of failing to live up to the standards set in the Holy Quran.

He continues: "What can we say about the authorities of the region who allowed them to shoot eat and exterminate birds?

"Where is the shame, compassion and humanity? Is that all we have achieved since the declaration of our country's independence.

"Does this mean that we have fostered a generation that only know how to take the American dollar and disregards other values."

Raushanov contrasts his own country's approach to bustards unfavourably with those of, for instance, Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia  where captive breeding projects are underway.

He goes on to claim that Kazakh police are ready to  detain fish poachers, some of them elderly, yet turn a blind eye to foreign hunters who kill endangered bustards.

Raushanov's book has recently been published in the UK  as The Birds Are Our Friends by Whittles publishing at £18.99.

Superbly illustrated, it provides fascinating insights about some of the birds of Kazakhstan and their abiding place in  his nation's folklore.

                                                

Author pulls no punches in this important  book