Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act, 1912

This 1912 law was one of the earliest wildlife protection statutes in the subcontinent, giving provincial governments power to declare "close time" periods during which it becomes illegal to capture, kill, buy, sell or possess certain wild birds and animals. Section 2 says the Act initially applies only to the birds and animals listed in its Schedule (a long list including bustards, ducks, partridges, peafowl, pheasants, herons and king-fishers among birds, and antelopes, deer, gazelles, goats, and rhinoceroses among animals), though the Provincial Government can extend it to other species by notification.

Section 3 lets the Provincial Government declare a "close time" -- covering all or part of the year, in all or part of its territory -- during which it becomes unlawful to capture or kill the protected species (or their females/immature young), to buy, sell, or possess them or their flesh if taken during the close season, or to deal in plumage taken from birds killed during that period.

Section 4 sets penalties: a first offence draws a fine up to fifty rupees, while a repeat conviction can bring imprisonment up to one month, a fine up to one hundred rupees, or both. Section 5 lets a convicting Magistrate order confiscation of the bird or animal (or its flesh or parts) in addition to the punishment. Section 6 reserves trials to at least a second-class Magistrate. Section 7 allows the Provincial Government to grant scientific-research exemptions, and Section 8 exempts acts of self-defence or bona fide defence of property from the Act's restrictions.

This is a very old, colonial-era statute (1912) with extremely low penalty amounts by modern standards, and the extract notes it has been repealed in some provinces (e.g. Punjab, in favour of provincial wildlife laws) and amended elsewhere -- so its practical applicability today, especially at the federal level, should be checked against current law, since wildlife protection is now largely a provincial subject in Pakistan.