::UVAS::

"How long can men thrive between walls of brick, walking on asphalt pavements, breathing the fumes of coal and of oil, growing, working, dying, with hardly a thought of wind, and sky, and fields of grain, seeing only machine-made beauty, the stone-like quality of life?"

From habitat fragmentation to car fatalities, invasive species to development, wildlife around us is facing a number of serious threats to its survival. We?re fighting multifaceted national and worldwide threats to biodiversity, the most important of which is the global problem of climate change - possibly the greatest extinction risk in history. It seems that humans have set in motion the sixth mass extinction event in the history of earth.
University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) while realizing the importance of biodiversity took the bold initiative to strengthen institutional framework for scientific study of natural resources. In a country where literacy rate is appallingly low, and education system is flexible and unstructured, incorporating wildlife education into this system presented a great challenge. UVAS Department of Wildlife & Ecology was established in 2002 with the mandate to conserve country's unique natural diversity in a manner that is complementary to the future needs. The research and development of this department is focused on protection, preservation, perpetuation and judicious control of rare species and their environment.

We believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature - to the existence of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we are working to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive, as without habitat there is no wildlife it is that simple.

Our mission is to conserve natural heritage of the country, dynamism of ecosystems and species threatened with risk of extinction. Since baseline information on most of the species and habitats is fragmentary, we are trying to develop an understanding of concepts and issues relevant to wildlife management in Pakistan. We aim to apply this knowledge for analyzing, designing and implementing wildlife management programmes in the country. We impart professional level skills to students to apply their knowledge for conserving endangered species and manage fragmented and disturbed habitats. We also train them to develop skills in sourcing information, analyzing key points and synthesizing an integrated report on key issues associated with the conservation of habitats and species under consideration. We inculcate in them an ability to understand wider implications of wildlife management and a sense to integrate information from across disciplines. Not only professionally, we also refine their personality by imparting skills in both written and oral communication.

We firmly believe that adverse effects of climate change, habitat loss and resulting biodiversity loss can only be minimized if not stopped completely by networking of Higher Education Institutions of the world engaged in biodiversity conservation. Department of Wildlife and Ecology has established link with Center for Environment and Society, School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, UK in second round of Higher Education Commission-British Council-Joint Link Program (HEC-BC- JHELP). It was one of the 35 successful links for which more than 200 applications were received from Higher Education Institutions (HEI) of Pakistan. Establishment of DelPHE (Developing partnership in Higher Education) link is another great achievement of this Department. The second round of DelPHE funding attracted more than 300 applications from across the globe and of the 13 successful applications from Asia; one was from Department of Wildlife and Ecology. The Department is also in process to develop MoU with Bat Ecology and Bioacoustic Laboratory, University of Bristol, UK. Aim and objectives of this programme are:

Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
WECO 1001	Wildlife of Pakistan	3(3-0)
WECO 1002	Biological Diversity	3(2-2)
WECO 1003	Advanced Mammalogya	3(3-0)
WECO 1004	Laboratory and Field Techniques in Mammalogy	2(0-4)
WECO 1005	Advanced Ornithologya	3(3-0)
WECO 1006	Laboratory and Field Techniques in Ornithology	2(0-4)
WECO 1007	Advanced Herpetologya	2(2-0)
WECO 1008	Insect Morphology, Physiology and Ecology	3(2-2)
WECO 1009	Insect Classification and Pest Management	3(2-2)
WECO 1010	Conservation Biology ? I	4(2-4)
WECO 1011	Conservation Biology - II	3(3-0)
WECO 1012	Fundamentals of Environmental Science	4(4-0)
WECO 1013	Environmental Impact Assessment	3(3-0)
WECO 1014	Wildlife Management and Conservationa	2(1-2)
WECO 1015	Modern Concepts in Habitat Ecology	3(3-0)
WECO 1016	Population Ecology	3(3-0)
WECO 1017	Community Ecology	2(2-0)
WECO 1018	Plant Community Ecology	4(4-0)
WECO 1019	Special Problem	1(1-0)
WECO 1020	Seminar	1(1-0)
WECO 1021	Ecosystem and Evolutionary Ecology	3(3-0)
WECO 1022	Animal Behaviour	2 (2-0)
WECO 1023	Behavioural Ecology	3(3-0)
WECO 1024	Biogeography	2 (2-0)
WECO 1025	Geoinformatics for Resource Mapping and Analysis	4(2-2)
WECO 1026	Introduction to Forestry & Natural Resource Conservation	3(3-0)
WECO 1027	Eco-tourism Planning and Management	3(3-0)
WECO 1028	Range Managementa	3(2-2)
WECO 1029	Park Managementa	2(2-0)
	Thesis Research