Pakistan set a global record in the hunting world after a single permit to hunt the rare Astore markhor in Gilgit-Baltistan was auctioned for $370,000, the highest fee ever paid for a hunting licence.

According to media reports, the permit was awarded during the annual trophy hunting auction organised by the Gilgit-Baltistan Wildlife and Parks Department at the Forest, Parks, and Wildlife Complex in Gilgit on Wednesday.

“This is the highest-ever bid for a markhor hunting permit, both in Pakistan and globally,” said Gilgit-Baltistan Conservator for Parks and Wildlife, Khadim Abbas.

For the 2025–26 season, permits for 118 animals were offered, including four Astore markhors, 100 Himalayan ibexes, and 14 blue sheep.

The record bid came from Shikar Safaris owner Raja Farhad Maqpoon for hunting in the Nanga Parbat Conservancy, surpassing last year’s national record of $271,000 set in Chitral.

Other Astore markhor permits sold for $286,000, $270,000, and $240,000, while top bids for blue sheep and Himalayan ibex reached $40,000 and $13,000, respectively.

To reflect growing demand, the government raised the base price of an Astore markhor permit to $200,000 this year, up from $150,000.

Blue sheep and Himalayan ibex permits also saw sharp increases, now starting at $30,000 and $10,000, respectively.

Launched in 1990, the community-based trophy hunting programme in Gilgit-Baltistan has emerged as one of Pakistan’s most successful conservation initiatives. Nearly 80 per cent of revenues from permits are returned to local communities, funding schools, clinics, and conservation projects, while 20 per cent goes to the government.

The scheme has turned the once critically endangered markhor, Pakistan’s national animal, into a community asset. Its population, now over 5,000 nationwide, has rebounded so strongly that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reclassified the species from “endangered” to “near threatened” in 2015.