American national hunts Kashmir Markhor

CHITRAL: An American hunter killed a Kashmir Markhor in Toshi Conservancy in Lower Chitral as trophy hunting after obtaining permit from the wildlife department for $140,000.

The divisional forest officer of wildlife division, Mohammad Idrees, told Dawn here on Sunday that the American national, Joe Lawrence Walreven, hunted down the 48-inch long markhor in the conservancy.

He said that the 82-year-old hunter faced no difficulty in finding an animal for hunting as he spotted and earmarked a 10-year-old markor within an hour after he disembarked from his vehicle on Garam Chashma Road near Chitral city.

“He wasted no time in shooting the animal and he accomplished it skillfully. He fired a shot at the markhor from a distant range by his Remington rifle,” said the official. He added that the animal fell down instantly.

The DFO said that 80 per cent of the income from hunting permits went to the local community that utilised it for collective development purposes through the village conservation committees (VCCs).

He said that the population of the national animal (markhor) increased greatly during the recent years in different areas of the lower part of the district after the local people were organised into VCCs to work for conservation of wildlife.