Markhor Trophy hunting bags over US$1.2m in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Oct 10 (APP):After a mechanized community based revival of depleting Markhor species in the country’s northern areas and Balochistan, Markhor Trophy hunting has managed to bag over US$1.2 million dollars in a season.

Talking to APP, Ministry of Climate Change Conservator Wildlife Mian Muhammad Shafique said at least 12 Markhor trophy hunting licenses were awarded to hunters every year as per the set quota. For that purpose, open bidding was called to auction the license where four licenses each for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and Balochistan were awarded, he added.

Replying to a query, he said the auction was held after the month of November where the provinces had the lead role in this process. Last year, he said each license was auctioned for minimum US$ 110,000 to over US$130,000 maximum.

“Every year, there are requests to increase the trophy hunting permits but unless there is any credible data about the number of Markhor present in the region no such decision could be made,” he said.

A representative of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) official told APP that it was the main party in implementing Markhor Trophy hunting in the country’s potential areas. He said, “IUCN has conducted awareness and education sessions at grass roots level to mobilize the local community in northern areas to protect Markhor. The amount of trophy hunting was directly reaching to the local communities with 80 percent share of the total amount whereas the left over 20 percent was given to the concerned respective department implementing the project, he added.

Inspector General Forest, MoCC Suleman Warraich told APP that there had been Red Book Data of endangered species available in the country since partition where as the ministry had initiated the project.