From Poachers To Protectors by Marjan Yazdi

News

From Poachers To Protectors

marjan yazdi

Mar 10, 2019

Location: Iran

The city of Yazd is the first city to have a privately protected wildlife area. Local people living in the villages close to the mountains are the main hunters of the area. Due to the outrageous number of poachers in these areas, many inhabitant species are going through extinction. Masjed Protected Area is established by a group of brave rangers. These rangers who have dedicated (some lost) their lives protecting these species, are those who once had their guns aimed at
these animals as very savage hunters. Unfortunately, many of the private protected areas in Yazd don't follow the regulations, and the rangers protecting them accept bribes and allow selected few to hunt. The government gives a large amount of land to wildlife activists, in return, they hire rangers to protect these lands. Unfortunately, this so-called Wildelife Activist has turned these protected areas into their own privately owned and protected hunting zone. These people preserve the wildlife only to be hunted by themselves. While the wildlife of Iran is encountering all these distrusted actions, Masjed protected area’s rangers are truly and honestly putting all their efforts to save the wildlife. They believe by protecting the wildlife they can make up for the damage they did to the environment and the wildlife.