Spanish hunter Christian Pablo Abello Gamizo has paid $219,000 (approximately PKR 61.25 million) for a permit to hunt a Kashmir markhor in the Ghairat Gol area of Lower Chitral, Pakistan.
The hunt was conducted under the supervision of the Ghairat Conservation Committee and led by Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Wildlife Lower Chitral, Farooq Nabi. The targeted markhor was a nine-year-old specimen with horns measuring 41.5 inches.
Pakistan’s trophy hunting program allocates 80% of the revenue from such permits to local community development projects, with the remaining 20% directed to the government treasury. This initiative aims to incentivize conservation by providing financial benefits to local populations, thereby encouraging the protection of endangered species like the markhor.
In December 2024, an American hunter set a record by paying PKR 75 million for a markhor hunting permit in the Toshi Shah Conservation Area, marking the highest fee ever recorded for such an activity in Chitral’s history.
The markhor, Pakistan’s national animal, is renowned for its distinctive twisted horns and is classified as Near Threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Conservation programs, including regulated trophy hunting, have been instrumental in stabilizing and increasing markhor populations in the region.
