Trophy hunting of Ibex and Urial in December

KARACHI:

Trophy hunting of Ibex and Urial will begin in December and continue until March in the "game reserves" of Sindh, the Provincial Wildlife Department announced on Tuesday.

The permits issued for trophy hunting will be valid for seven days, but hunting will not be allowed in the Kirthar National Park and Sindh Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Similarly, hunting of female Ibexes and Urials and their fawns will be strictly prohibited. Official statistics put the number of Sindh Ibexes across the province at 16,599 and the number of Urials at around 3,165.

Trophy hunting is allowed in four "game reserves" of the Wildlife Department, which are located in Thana Bula Khan taluka of the mountainous Kohistan region in Jamshoro district.

These game reserves are Eri, Sumbak, Surjan and Hothiano. Hunting will not be allowed in the Kirthar National Park and around 33 sanctuaries of the Wildlife Department.

Mumtaz Soomro of the Sindh Wildlife Department told The Express Tribune that Urials with 35 inches long horns and Ibexes with 22 inches long horns have been offered for trophy hunting.

"Long-horned Ibexes and Urials are old and have lived their average life," he added. "The average lifespan of an Ibex and Urial is around 15 years."

According to Soomro, 80% of money earned from trophy hunting permits fees is spent on the health, education and other needs of the community responsible for the protection of the game reserves, while the rest goes to the provincial kitty.

He said that trophy hunting discourages illegal poaching as it motivates the communities to protect the animals.

There are 15,539 Ibexes and 2,529 Urials in the Kirthar National Park, while the number of Ibexes and Urials in the game reserves if 1,060 Ibex and 536, respectively.

Soomro said that this season 15 Ibexes and 5 Urials are up for trophy hunting for foreign hunters against a fee of $5,600 and $14,000 per trophy, respectively.

Five Ibex trophies will be up for hunting for Pakistani citizens against a minimum fee of Rs.300,000.