Zanjan deer population down 16 percent

ZANJAN, Jan. 27 (MNA) – An environmentalist expert in Zanjan has told Mehr News correspondent that the population of province’s deer population has decreased by 16 percent. Amjad Baqeri told reporters on Sunday that Zanjan hosted 3 protected areas and three hunting preserves; “the surface area of protected area of the province is in compliance with the global standards; however, in some areas improvement needed would only come through cooperation of authorities,” he added. “The sheer biodiversity of the province provides higher capacities which would promote the environmental indices of the province should these capacities ذe optimally used,” Baqeri told the press. “Overhunting in Zanjan alluvial plains has severely damaged the biological sources; during 3 past years, overhunting has drastically reduced the number of wildlife species; with more and more hunting guns in the hands of the public and issuing license for these hunting rifles, hunters have decimated the local deer population, which in turn, turn the natural habitats of these animals into a deserted area,” he lamented. “Changes in land use, overhunting, and overexposure have reduced the number of deer population in Sahrain plain,” he noted.