A Spanish hunter paid $85,300 to hunt Pakistan’s national animal, markhor in Gilgit-Baltistan as part of the trophy hunting programme.

Markhor, also known as screw horn goat is an endangered species. It can be found in the northern region of Pakistan, including Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral, Kalash Valley and Hunza.

Although, hunting markhor in Pakistan is illegal, but the government has introduced a scheme that makes it legal. The scheme is called ‘trophy hunting’.

Read: You can shoot Pakistan’s national animal for $83,500

A hunting trophy license is issued after a proper auction by Peshawar’s wildlife department. The person who became the highest bidder gets the hunter to hunt one markhor.

According to the wildlife department spokesperson, the life of a markhor is between 10 and 12 years.

As per reports, every year, for hunting markhor, four hunting trophy licenses are issued and 80% of the collected money is distributed among the local community, and the other 20% is kept by the wildlife department.