Two Markhor poachers held
CHITRAL, Officials of wildlife department arrested two
college students for poaching and recovered two
carcasses of Kashmir markhors from their possession here
on Tuesday night.
A range officer of the department Irshad Ahmed said the
watchers were put on red alert in the buffer zone
between Chitral Gol National Park and Toshi Game Reserve
due to the commencement of the hunting season.
He said the watchers intercepted Shakir Ahmed and
Maqbool Azam of Pachili village, as both had hunted a
markhor each. He said both the poachers offered stiff
resistance to the officials but the villagers rushed to
their help and overpowered them. Both were later handed
over to local police.
About the hunted animals, Mr Ahmed said each markhor was
three-year old and they had been shot from a close
range. He said the police had registered a case against
them under Section 5-b(2) of the Wildlife Act and 13/34
of Arms Ordinance. The official said the two were later
released on bail by a local court.
The official said they had taken into possession the
blood-stained clothes and rifles of the accused along
with the carcasses of the hunted animals that would be
produced in the court.
He claimed that poaching had been discouraged in the
buffer zone and the local population was extending
cooperation to the wildlife department in this regard.
Mr Ahmed said there were about 100 markhors in the zone.
He said illegal hunting of the two animals had virtually
deprived the local people of Rs9 million as the
department used to sell the hunting permit of each
markhor at Rs4.5 million and 80 per cent of this money
would go to the local community for their collective
development.--Dawn.. --Zahiruddin,
'DAWN' ,23 Dec 2010
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