CHITRAL: An American hunted a nine-year-old Kashmir Markhor with 38-inch horn in Gahiret-Golen community-managed game reserve area here on Sunday.

He had obtained a hunting permit from the wildlife department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at a cost of 125,000 US dollars.

Divisional forest officer of Chitral wildlife division Farooq Nabi told Dawn that Robert Myles Hall spent a number of days to tag a markhor of the trophy size near Gahiret village with the help of the local community.

“He successfully hunted the trophy with his automatic rifle from a close range.”

He said that it was the third trophy hunting of markhor during the current season in Chitral, as previously another American national had hunted a markhor in Toshi-Shasha conservancy in December, and a Russian hunter in the first week of February in the same conservancy.

Mr Nabi said that 80 per cent of the fee of the hunting permit went to the local community to be spent on their collective well-being through the village conservation committee, and in lieu of it they played role in conservation of species.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2024