Over 3.6 mln somoni reportedly raised from hunting Marco Polo sheep this year

DUSHANBE, July 19, 2011, Asia-Plus -- The sale of licenses for hunting Marco Polo sheep during the hunting season (February-March) earned the government more than 3.6 million somoni (equivalent to some 768,000 U.S. dollars), Talbak Salimov, head of the Committee for Environmental Protection, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 18.

According to him, 51 Marco Polo sheep hunts have been organized, though 80 licenses for hunting Marco Polo sheep have been allocated.

Rajabali Sharipov, head of the flora and fauna protection department within the Committee for Environmental Protection, said that all those wanting to hunt Marco Polo sheep were foreign citizens.  “The majority of devotees of hunting Marco polo sheep are citizens of the United States and Canada but there are also persons interested from France and Spain,” he said

According to specialists, the price of license for hunting Marco Polo sheep was 51,000 somoni in 2010 and some 55,000 somoni in 2011.

According to the data from the Committee for Environmental Protection, there are 12,000-15,000 Marco Polo sheep in Gorno Badakhshan.

According to official figures, there were some 8,000-10,000 Marco Polo sheep in Gorno Badakhshan in 2001.  Marco Polo sheep has entered Red Book as endangered species.

We will recall that a two-year moratorium on hunting Marco Polo sheep introduced in Tajikistan on January 1, 2009 was lifted ahead of schedule in September 2010.

In the 1980s, some 60,000 Marco Polo sheep reportedly lived in the high mountains of Gorno Badakhshan.

The Marco Polo sheep (Ovis ammon polii) is a subspecies of argali sheep, named after Marco Polo. Their habitat is the mountainous regions of Central Asia. Marco Polo sheep are distinguishable mostly by their large size and spiraling horns. Their conservation status is "near threatened" and efforts have been made to protect their numbers and keep them from commercial hunting. It has also been suggested that crossing them with domestic sheep could have agricultural benefits.