CHITRAL: The authorities arrested three poachers of Kashmir Markhor at Chitral Gol National Park.

The poachers had earlier managed to escape after hunting a male markhor on the outskirts of Kandujal village.

The divisional forest officer of Gol National Park, Syed Sarmad Hussain Shah, told this scribe that the poachers left behind the horns and flesh of the hunted animal when they saw the raiding party of the park approaching them.

He said that the field staff started hectic efforts to trace the poachers in the nearby villages of Garam Chashma valley bordering the national park and succeeded to trace three of them in Kandujal village.

They included Said Akbar, Saidur Rahman and Rozi Khan, he added.

The divisional forest officer said that the poachers were arrested with the help of police and were booked under KP Wildlife and Biodiversity Act, 2015.

They were sent to jail after the local court turned down their bail plea.

Mr Shah said that the Gol National Park hosted one of the largest surviving populations of Kashmir Markhor including the threatened species.

It was a matter of credit for the department of wildlife that the animal had a comfortable strength there, he added.

He said that at the time of establishment of Gol National Park, the population of markhor was at the verge of extinction but the community-based conservation process worked well and the strength crossed 3,000.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2020