American hunter sets record bid to hunt first Kashmir Markhor of the season in Pakistan

American hunter Ronald Joe Whinton has successfully hunted the first Kashmir markhor of the season in Chitral, after placing the highest-ever bid in the history of the country’s wildlife conservation auctions.

In a groundbreaking development for Pakistan’s trophy hunting program, American hunter Ronald Joe Whinton secured the hunting permit for $271,000 (approximately 7.5 million Pakistani rupees) in an open bid held earlier this year in October. This historic bid allowed him to hunt the markhor at the Thoshi Shasha Community Managed Game Reserve in Chitral, where wildlife officials supervised the hunt on Sunday.

According to Farooq Nabi, the Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife) for Chitral, the hunted markhor, aged 11 years, had a horn size of 49.5 inches. The hunt was carried out under strict supervision by wildlife authorities, and the markhor’s horns were measured and handed over to the hunter as a trophy.

This auction, part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) wildlife department’s annual program, raised substantial funds for conservation efforts. The Thoshi Shasha and Thoshi Two conservation zones each sold their markhor hunting permits for $271,000. Meanwhile, the Keiga Conservation Zone in Kohistan fetched over $181,000 for a single permit, and the Gheriat Gole reserve in Chitral saw its permit sold for $180,000.

Revenue generated from the trophy hunting program is used to fund local community development and wildlife protection initiatives. Approximately 80% of the earnings are distributed among the residents of the areas where the hunting takes place, while the rest supports wildlife conservation projects.

Since its inception in 1999, the trophy hunting program has contributed to a significant increase in the population of the Kashmir markhor, which was once on the brink of extinction. The combined efforts of trophy hunting and community-managed conservation have led to a dramatic recovery, with the markhor population in Chitral growing from just a few hundred in the late 1990s to thousands today.

Trophy hunting in Pakistan began following the 1997 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) agreement, which allowed the country to regulate the hunting of endangered species like the Kashmir markhor. Initially, Pakistan was granted permits for only six markhor hunts per year, but the number has since increased to twelve.

The scheme has proven to be a successful model for preserving endangered species while benefiting local communities economically. The markhor, found in the mountainous regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kohistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir, and Balochistan, is considered Pakistan’s national animal.

While hunters primarily focus on collecting the animal’s horns as trophies, the meat of the markhor is generally not sought after, underscoring the trophy hunting program’s role in preserving the species for future generations.