Tajikistan increases markhor population from 500 to over 7,000 animals

Tajikistan’s Committee for Environmental Protection reports that the country's markhor population, a rare mountain goat with spiral horns, has grown to more than 7,000 animals.

During the 1990s, the population dropped to fewer than 500 due to widespread poaching and the effects of the civil war between 1992 and 1997. The species nearly disappeared from several regions, including the Sanglokh mountains and the Sarsarak ridge. Researchers and government officials attribute the recovery to conservation measures and local community involvement.

Starting in 2008, the government assigned hunting areas to local community organizations to monitor wildlife and prevent illegal hunting. A 2017 government resolution further strengthened protections in key habitats, which researcher Zayniddin Amirov says reduced poaching in those areas by approximately 90%. Authorities also seized 43 firearms from poachers between 2018 and 2019. Despite these gains, markhors still face threats from diseases, competition with domestic livestock, and extreme weather.

For instance, an outbreak of pleuropneumonia killed about one-third of a local population on the Hazrati Shoh ridge in 2010. Extreme cold and heavy snow also caused 25 deaths on the Darvoz ridge in 2023. Genetic studies by Amirov and his colleagues suggest that Tajikistan's markhors may be a distinct subspecies compared to those in Uzbekistan.