Abstract
Present survey extending from October, 2015 through March, 2016 was planned to document public perceptions towards amphibians and reptiles in district Kasur, Pakistan. A total of 200 respondents, 50 from each tehsil were interviewed from all the four tehsils namely Pattoki, Chunnian, Kot Radha Kishan and Kasur. The people of the study area used to prepare traditional medicines from body parts of Bungarus caeruleus, Naja naja, Ptyas mucosus, Eryx johnii, Varanus bengalensis
and Uromastyx hardwickii. Out of 200 respondents, more than 80% considered
amphibians and reptiles as useless animals, 71% as symbol of bad omen, 73% believed that herpetiles are used in traditional medicine and 3% considered that they are also used as food. Different superstitions are also linked with amphibians and reptiles and this mindset lead to unnecessary killing of species. Among all the herpetiles, snakes are most disliked taxa and killed by the locales. Conservation education and awareness campaigns are recommended to avoid unnecessary killing of the amphibians and reptiles of the study area.
Arshad Javid, Waqas Ali, Ali Hussain, Syed Mohsin Bukhar. (2017) Public attitude towards amphibian and reptiles in district Kasur, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab University Journal of Zoology, Volume 32, Issue 2.
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