In the Chitral Gol National Park, about two-thirds of the markhor population has vanished in the last three years without attracting much attention from the Wildlife Department of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
“The Wildlife Department believes the population has shrunk to 2,000 animals, but there has been no scientific assessment to determine the number of markhor,” he claimed, adding that only a few thousand have survived illicit and unrestrained hunting.
According to a wildlife official from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife Department in Chitral, the population of the coveted animal reached an all-time high of 2,868 in 2019, after which the PTI government stopped paying local watchers and staffers’ salaries, resulting in a dramatic decline in the population of the coveted animal, which is most likely due to poaching with the help of Wildlife staff and local communities.
