Murgab Hunting

The Marco Polo sheep, Pamir mountain sheep or Pamir argali (Ovis ammon polii) is one of the subspecies of argali. Its range includes the south of the Kyrgyz Republic, a narrow strip in the western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, the Little and Great Pamir in northeastern Afghanistan, and a small area in the Northern Territories of Pakistan. The main range and the majority of the Marco Polo sheep population are located in the Republic of Tajikistan, in the Pamir. The Marco Polo sheep is included in the Red Book of the Republic of Tajikistan (1988, 2015) and in the International Red Book of the IUCN as a "vulnerable" species (VU). Since 1987, trophy hunting for foreign tourists has been conducted in Tajikistan based on special permits from the CITES, founded on the recommendations of the Academy of Sciences and the interdepartmental commission. The quota for the annual culling of argali according to the current legislation is approved by the Government of the republic and for the current year is set at 105 heads. Tajikistan bears a special responsibility for the conservation of this subspecies of wild sheep within the republic and since 1990, large-scale population censuses of this species have been conducted in the country.