I know it seems counter intuitive, but the program is actually extremely brilliant. Below is the explanation that I posted last year. Please do read it.
"Every other day a new thread pops up on the subject and an army of people who don't understand the program start hurling abuses and criticism at the government, the program and the people involved with it. The same program which is solely responsible for pulling the Markhor back from the brink of extinction. Since it was introduced the Markhor has been downgraded from 'Endangered' to first 'Vulnerable' and then to 'Near Threatened' on IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. Every single time I have to copy paste my original post. So again,
Despite not being a fan of killing animals for sport, I'm actually a pretty big admirer of this program but not merely because of the licensing fees paid to the locals. The foreigners were never the ones who hunted these animals close to extinction, it was the local poachers. Now those very locals receive a season's worth of income from a single one of these licensed hunts. These licensed hunters also hire jeeps, guides, porters, lodging and buy supplies from these locals which brings further direct income to the whole community. The locals soon realized that if the animals' populations were not kept at healthy levels the government would stop issuing these licenses which would stop this vital source of income for them. And the poaching suddenly stopped. The program turned those former poachers into today's conservationists which has resulted in an unprecedented increase in these animals' numbers. The locals are the ones who make sure the right animals are hunted and that illegal poaching does not happen. This has been the real benefit of this program. Ironically, no one had a clue of this happening when the program was first devised, it was only realized later. It has been so successful that since then countries all over the world have emulated it for their own endangered species. The scheme is supported and endorsed by many conservationist organisations. A couple of years ago the Markhor conservationists in Kazakhstan, IIRC, were trying to convince the government to introduce this program there as well.
This program was originally devised by an American conservationist, with the help of a local Balochi Chief, working in the Chiltan National Park in Balochistan. They had both tried every thing but could not stop the nomadic tribes crossing through the region from poaching the Markhor for meat and pelts. The nomads had been doing it for hundreds of years, they didn't care what anyone said, it was their way of life. Later, when the conservation efforts were hit with budget cuts these two came up with this program; part of the licensing fees were to be paid towards the conservation efforts while the rest were to be paid to the locals as royalty. Continued funds for the conservation efforts were supposed to be the only benefit of the program. It was only a few years later that they realized the true genius of the program they had devised. Those nomadic tribes were now trying to stop poaching."
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/trophy-hunter-downs-markhor-in-chitral.594451/#post-11081583
Firstly, these licenses are auctioned, not sold. Secondly, their number is controlled. The number of licenses every year is actually decided by an international body made for the conservation of different species. They issue these to every country that is part of the program. Then, in our case, the federal government decides which region gets how many (KPK, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan and AJK). The respective regional governments then decide how many of them to auction.
That would be a great day.
Licenses aren't issued for females. They are issued only for males that are way past their prime. Specimens which do not have anything left to offer the gene pool. Works out well for the hunters too since these are also the specimens which make the best trophies, i.e. the longer the horns the better the trophy.
Good luck actually and remarkably so too. We brought it back from extinction with this program when every one else was failing miserably. Now we are helping others do it too.
On that you are correct, cent percent.
Would you rather have a national animal which we hunted to extinction?
.
