Karachi:
The floods of Pakistan – among the deadliest in the country’s recent history – have swept away villages, overwhelmed from agricultural land and forced more than 2 million people at home, mainly in the northeast province of Punjab.
The consequences, however, are not limited to humans. The catastrophic flood has also devastated the country’s already fragile fauna.
“Whole habitats have been overwhelmed, encompassing everything, forests and brush courses with critical wetlands that act as fauna sanctuaries,” an ecologist based in Karachi told Anadolu Rafiul.
Displaced jackals, wild boars, Chinkara antelope and even elusive jungle cats now venture into villages in search of food and shelter, he added.
Such meetings bring new dangers. Studies show that the conflict of human life increases sharply after the floods, and Pakistan is no exception.
“The rural areas, now overwhelmed with displaced carnivores and omnivores, attend increased attacks on livestock, including goats, sheep and poultry, leading to murders of reprisals that threaten to push rare species further towards extinction,” said Haq.
Uzma Khan, specialist in WWF-Pakistan fauna, said that fragmented habitats weaken the resilience of local ecosystems, leaving the wildlife populations more vulnerable to conflicts with humans.
“Many snakes have entered the communities in recent days,” she said. “Many have been rescued, but some, including pythons, have been killed.”
She warned that floods can also trigger epidemics of diseases in livestock that pour into wild populations. Stagnant water, she said, provides reproductive grounds for insects that distribute infections.
“This requires close surveillance and vaccination of livestock to reduce the risk of outbreaks,” she added.
Animals have swept the borders
Crue waters often transport ungulated such as sambar deer and pork deer on the other side of the border in India in Pakistan, which has grown more the country’s stressed ecosystems.
“These deer, which include rare Chinkara species, are generally injured after being struck by rocks and trees in rivers, and require appropriate treatment before their release,” anadolu Kamran Bukhari, a main preservative of the Punjab fauna department, told Anadolu Kamran.
So far this year, dozens of pork deer, which are classified as threatened, have been rescued, he added.
Altaf Ali Shah, an official of the fauna department in the northwest of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that the torrential rains and the overflow floods of the glacial lake (GLOF) moved the Himalayan IBEX to the Chantal district and destroy the habitats for birds, rounders and reptiles.
Aquatic species have also struck
Experts warn that the danger extends below the surface of the water. Fisheries and aquatic biodiversity are also threatened because floods disrupt river systems and wetlands.
The endemic aquatic species in Pakistan, including the Dauphin of the Industry river, freshwater turtles and crocodiles, are at risk, said Haq.
“Strong currents sweep these vulnerable creatures in the channels and irrigation distributions where the chances of survival are slim,” he said. “Living teams often find dolphins blocked away from their river habitats – one of the recurring ecological tragedies of Pakistan.”
The Dauphin de l’Inus, known locally under the name of “Bhulan”, is almost exclusively in Pakistan. Development mainly in a section of 1,300 kilometers (807 miles) of the Indus River, the endangered mammal is functionally blind, based on echolocation to sail in muddy waters.
A related species lives in the Ganges and Brahmaputra systems of India, Bangladesh and Nepal, but the dolphin of Industrial is genetically distinct and considered as one of the most threatened freshwater cetaceans in the world.
HAQ has urged more coordinated rescue and conservation efforts.
The floods also bring a renewal
Despite devastation, Haq noted that rains and floods carry a “double nature”, sometimes stimulating wild populations.
“Raw waters breathe life in arid areas,” he said. “Species like Chinkara deer and wild cattle often find freshly sprouted herbs at their door after the rains, potentially increasing their short -term populations.”
Scientific studies, he added, show that periodic floods increase the primary productivity of routes and wetlands, triggering herbivorous booms and attracting migratory birds in greater numbers.
Uzma Khan from WWF-Pakistan has agreed, noting that natural floods, although more and more unpredictable under climate change, also rehabilitate habitats that support fisheries, aquatic birds and river species disappearing such as pork deer.
“The most important step is to protect the floodplaces against human encroachment,” she said.
“In addition to linking rivers and associated lakes, which helps not only to manage floods but also creates tanks that support communities as well as fauna such as savage and freshwater turtles.”
She warned that uncontrolled land rental around wetlands and forests undermines natural defenses.
“Forest protection is very crucial because they protect the land from the devastating impacts of the explosions of clouds and sudden floods, which increase both in frequency and intensity due to climate change,” she said.
HAQ said that the long -term solution lies in the creation of wildlife corridors, the restoration of habitats and the adoption of the sustainable management of floods.
“Without that, Pakistan risks losing crucial biodiversity and ecological security nets that support its natural heritage and, ultimately, its people,” he said.
