CHITRAL: A British national on Thursday hunted an eight-year-old trophy Kashmir markhor in the Toshi Shasha game reserve area here.

Mclean Alexander, who had secured a hunting permit from the local wildlife department after the payment of $0.1 million, arrived in the area on Wednesday along with his two-member team, according to range officer of the Chitral wildlife division Irshad Ahmed. “This is the second trophy hunting of markhor during the current season. Last month, a Russian had hunted a markhor of the same size in Gahirate area,” Mr Irshad told Dawn.

Secretary of Al-Burhan village conservation committee Shahzada Amir Hasanatuddin said using the Magnum 300 rifle, the British hunter fired six shots at markhor, which offered strong resistance. He said a trophy hunter spent a number of days searching for a markhor of the maximum size in the conservancy while complying with the hunting rules.

Mr Shahzada said the VCC activists offered help to the hunter in the search. He said every horn of the hunted markhor was measured to be 42 inches long and for that, he had carried out a search in the pasture for two days.

The VCC secretary said the population of the once-endangered species in the conservancy had crossed the 1,000 mark due to the involvement of the community in its conservation exercise. He said 80 per cent of the hunting permit fee went to the local community, which used it for own development through VCC.

Mr Shahzada said the British national had left for Arkari valley to hunt a Himalayan ibex.