American hunts down longest horned Markhor in Chitral

Edward Joseph paid the official authorities $88,000 as permit fee

ABOTTABAD:

According to wildlife officials, an American citizen named Edward Joseph Hudson hunted down the longest horned Markhor in the Toshi Shasha conservation area in Chitral on Saturday.

The hunter was said to have paid the official authorities $88,000 as the permit fee to hunt the Markhor under the hunting trophy programme.

Chitral wildlife range head Altaf Ali Shah while talking to The Express Tribune said, the hunted Markhor was 10 years old and its horns were measured at 44 inches.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief conservator of wildlife Dr Muhsin Farooq told The Express Tribune that 80 percent of the permit fee shall be utilised for development projects of the local community, and will help in conserving the wildlife in the region.

People gather around as American hunter Edward Joseph Hudson poses with the longest horned Markhor he hunted down in Chitral. PHOTO: EXPRESS

Dr Farooq informed that the provincial authorities allow four permits every year, three in Chitral and one in Kohistan, for Markhor hunting.

The population of the rare species has now reached 5,000 in both regions of the province, and a proposal has been submitted to the federal government to demand an increase in the number of hunting trophy permits.

Some days ago, another US-based hunter, Joseph Bradford, was said to have hunted down a Markhor using the traditional archery method.

According to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) wildlife department, Bradford successfully targeted the Markhor in the Toshi area of Chitral. The horns of the hunted animal were measured at 40 inches.

The US hunter paid $80,000 or Rs17.12 million for the trophy-hunting permit and this was for the first time that the hunter used an arrow and a bow to hunt an animal.