Trophy hunting: Threatened by extinction, hunted nonetheless

80 per cent of hunting fee goes to local community while govt spends the remaining on projects for welfare of forests.


Shabbir Mir January 17, 2011

GILGIT: At least eight hunters have come to Gojal valley in search of ibexes and blue sheep in the past three months. The local communities received hefty payments from the hunts, which included Pakistani and foreign hunting parties, according to locals.

“Five of the hunters were Americans while one was from Mexico. All of them made successful hunts in the mountains of upper Hunza and Gojal,” said Asif Khan, the outfitter who organised the hunters’ visits in the region. He said one of the hunters was Pakistani while the other was an Arab.

The ibex is a species whose population has increased over the past few years and crossed the “danger limit” due to efforts by international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Wildlife Fund for Nature and the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Forest Department.

The trophy hunting programme was initiated in G-B in the 1980s. Every foreign hunter has to pay a fee of US$3,000 to the Government of Pakistan, while Pakistanis pay Rs180,000 to indulge in what Asif Khan called “a sport of kings”.

One of the significant features of the trophy hunting programme is that 80 per cent of the hunting fee goes to the local community while the government spends the remaining 20 per cent on projects meant for the welfare of forests and biodiversity.

The communities use their share on projects aimed at conserving natural resources. The funds are allocated by committees trained by various NGOs in accounts, planning and management.

“Most projects are aimed at conserving wildlife and forests and are carried out with that money,” said Ghulam Mustafa, a conservation expert from Hunza.

The blue sheep is a more expensive hunt than ibexes with a hunting fee of $12,000. The cost of markhor is even higher, at $55,000 a hunt.

Wildlife experts say that the rarer a species is, the higher its cost, and the markhor, which is near extinction outside of Pakistan, is the rarest of all.

Asif Khan said an American woman named Mary killed two Ibexes in Gulkin valley last week. He said that the first hunt of this winter was by another US national, Dave, who killed two Ibexes in Shimshal and one Blue Sheep in Sost in November.

A forest officer in Gilgit said that an international hunter who had paid a $55,000 hunting fee to hunt Markhor in Gilgit will make another attempt if his first attempt fails.

Most animals in Sakwar valley have perched higher this season due to less snowfall. The officer said hunters will make further attempts when snow falls on the peaks in Gilgit.

But there is a caveat. The hunting season overlaps with the mating season of these animals, according to experts. They say winter is mating season for these species and snowfall forces them to come down for food and water, making them easy targets for hunters.

While the blue sheep and ibex are under no threat of extinction, markhor are less fortunate.

According to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the population of markhor continues to dwindle globally. While the government states that hunts are legal for only those animals that are not marked “threatened”, the availability of markhor hunting licences conflicts with this position.

* With additional input by Vaqas Asghar

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2011.

COMMENTS (1)

azmatalihilbi | 13 years ago | Reply it is a good initiate of wwf to save our world life in our area of gilgit baltstan. so v appri8 thm
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