American hunter secures first Kashmir Markhor of season in Chitral with record bid

A significant moment in trophy hunting occurred as American hunter Ronald Geo Whinton successfully hunted the first Kashmir markhor of the season in Chitral with the highest permit bid ever placed in Pakistan’s history.

According to local media, Farooq Nabi, the Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife) for Chitral, Whinton won the permit in an open auction held in October, paying a record $271,000.

The permit allowed him to hunt the endangered species under the supervision of wildlife authorities. The hunt took place on Sunday, and the animal’s horns measured 49.5 inches, with the markhor being 11 years old.

“This is a notable achievement for both the hunter and the local conservation efforts,” Nabi said. The permit was part of an auction where four permits for hunting the markhor in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were sold.

The Thoshi One and Thoshi Two reserves both sold their permits at the same record price of $271,000 each.

In addition, a permit for hunting a markhor in the Kigga area of Kohistan fetched more than $181,000, while a single permit for the Gahirat Gol Chitral reserve was sold for $180,000.

The revenue generated from the trophy hunting program is shared with local communities, with 80% of the proceeds distributed among residents. The remaining funds are used for community development and wildlife conservation efforts.

Trophy hunting in Pakistan began in 1999, following a decision at a 1997 international conference on endangered species trade.

Initially, the country was permitted six markhor hunting trophies annually, a number later increased to 12.

Nabi noted that the success of trophy hunting and community-managed conservation efforts has led to a dramatic increase in the Kashmir markhor population in Chitral, which numbered only a few hundred in 1999 but now totals in the thousands.