Straight-horned markhor.
Nausherwan Sarshar Ahmed
August 7, 2012
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to reclassify the straight-horned markhor, a subspecies of wild goat that inhabits the mountains of Balochistan Province, Pakistan, from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act. In addition, the Service proposed a special rule for the markhor that, if adopted, would allow the import of straight-horned markhor trophies, through a limited hunting program, which will help fund successful, ongoing community-based conservation efforts. The proposal recognizes the substantial contribution made by recovery actions now occurring in the Torghar Hills, a chain of rugged sandstone ridges located within the Toba Kakar Range in Pakistan. Here, locals have implemented a wildlife management plan called the Torghar Conservation Project, an innovative, community-based conservation program that allows for limited trophy hunting to conserve local populations of markhor, improve habitat for both markhor and domestic livestock, and improve the economic conditions for local tribes in Torghar.
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