Starting with a bang: Trophy hunting season begins in Sindh with 13 permits issued to foreigners

Community-aided conservation efforts have led to improved ibex and urial numbers.

KARACHI: Trophy hunting season has started in Sindh, with a Spanish hunter successful in achieving the first trophy, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The Sindh wildlife department on December 1 approved 13 permits for foreigners to hunt a total of 15 trophies. The successful hunters can chase five urial and eight Sindh ibex during the season.

According to a census conducted by the wildlife department officials and members of the community in August and September, there are around 1,200 Sindh ibex and 600 urial in four game reserves in Sindh, namely Sunbuk, Surjan, Aeri and Hothyano.



Interestingly, hunting is not permitted in these areas because the community itself protects the animals. Before they got involved in 2005, the wildlife population of the area had been witnessing a steep decline, but it has been significantly on the rise since then.

“The Sindh ibex has increased in number by about 40 per cent, while the urial’s numbers have gone up by around 70 per cent in the last nine years,” claimed assistant conservator Ghulam Sarwar Jamali. “The community too has seen improved development and income at the same time.”

Seventy families in these areas receive a monthly stipend as they work to protect the endangered animals. The wildlife department, in accordance with an agreement with the Kohistan Community Welfare Organisation, transfers 80 per cent of the revenue generated to the community-based organisation that passes it on to the families in the form of the stipend as well as developmental work.

The conservation measures taken to protect the Sindh ibex and the urial have also had beneficial effects for other animals and birds in the area, such as the grey partridge. “No one dares to fire a single shot here,” said provincial conservator Javed Ahmed Maher. “Visiting these areas without permits is a matter that the community takes very seriously.”

Trophy hunting

According to the wildlife department officials, Pakistanis who want to participate in the hunt can get permits after December 10.

“It’s a legal, healthy activity that happens across the world,” said provincial conservator Javed Ahmed Maher. “It promotes the conservation of animals and enhances the sense of ownership in the community.”

Justifying the separate bidding processes for Pakistanis and foreigners, Maher said that this was done in order to generate more revenue.

In the early 1970s, the revenue generated by the bids was restricted to the department itself, with the residents of the nearby communities often selling their permits to other hunters, according to sources.

Maher also rejected the notion that these animals were threatened by the hunting. “The aging animals will certainly die one day and it is more beneficial if they also generate some revenue while doing so,” he said, adding that the hunters could only take away the horns of the animals as trophies while leaving the meat. “Younger animals cannot be hunted by anyone.”

The trophy hunting season begins in December each year and lasts till March. According to the rules, a hunter can only fire twice, with no one allowed a third attempt.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2014.