Comeback Of The Markhor
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Markhor Comeback
The markhor is one of the most striking wild goats on the planet. And in the mid 1990s their numbers were down to near 2,000 in their native Pakistan.
Recent conservation efforts have seen a big surge in numbers with an estimated 5,000-6000.
An article in the Express-Tribute detailed how controlled hunting of older billies has brought incentive to protect the species.
The government uses the license money, which is in US dollars, to support local communities by building schools, mosques, health centres, and even providing scholarships to local students, the official said.
These incentives encourage local communities to avoid killing markhor and instead push them to care for the wild goats, he explained.
“The most recent markhor hunt license was sold for $160,000,” Salahuddin Jamaluddin, a divisional forest officer in Wildlife Department’s Peshawar office, told Anadolu Agency.
“We spend 80% of the money on the local community, who help us with our conservation efforts, and 20% on the government for administrative expenses,” he explained.
