They Beg Hunting Dollars, Too
Pakistan’s wildlife conservation policy is as much a donkey-brainer as the country itself. It has made it illegal for locals to hunt wildlife, but foreign trophy hunters can pay thousands of dollars to kill 12 a year. The money is apparently used to bankroll conservation efforts. Besides, the hunting prevents overpopulation and gives the lawless country an image makeover (the trigger-happy millionaire foreigners tell the world that Pakistan is safe). But the world went tchk tchk tchk when a fat-cat American banker paid $100,000 to slaughter a rare Himalayan mountain goat, the screw-horned Astore Markhor, and boasted of his “easy and close shot” with a high-powered rifle. “I have hunted almost all animals here. I saved the markhors for the last,” bragged Bryan Kinsel Harlan after the hunt this February. He has gone into hiding since.
