CHITRAL: An American national hunted a Kashmir markhor in Tushi-Shasha Conservancy in Lower Chitral on Thursday as a trophy for which he had obtained permit from the wildlife department for US$243,000 (Rs68.327 million).

Divisional forest officer of Wildlife Division Chitral Farooq Nabi told Dawn that with the help of the local community, the wildlife department facilitated the 75-year old American hunter Thomas Garrick Steele.

He said a markhor having 55-inch horn was finally chosen which he hunted down from a close range of about 250 metres using his American rifle.

Mr Nabi said that this trophy hunting was carried out under the exportable quota while last year, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had also introduced non-exportable trophy hunting whose horns were retained by the wildlife department.

Eighty per cent of the income accrued from the sale of hunting permits goes to the local community which utilises it for its collective development through the village conservation committees.

Every year, the wildlife department puts to auction the hunting permits of three Kashmir markhors in different conservancies of the district.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2025