We have received more information from the government of Kazakh- stan regarding that illegal argali hunt we told you about last month. You’ll recall that a hunter had reported in the January 2010 Ovis Magazine published by Grand Slam Club/OVIS (www.wildsheep.org) that he had hunted Sair argali in Kazakhstan with what appeared to be government approval. He even received a permit and official-looking government paperwork with his trophy. However, authorities with the Kazakhstan Forestry and Game Committee say the hunt was illegal and that an investigation by law-enforcement agencies is underway.
That investigation, we are told, is directed not only at the local operator who billed this hunt as part of a scientific study, but also at the hunt organizer and the hunter. The reason, we were told, that they are casting their nets so wide is that the Kazakhstan government believes these illegal hunts are driven by outside demand. The eagerness of foreign hunters to take an argali is precisely what makes local poachers and corrupt government officials eager to arrange illegal hunts they say.....
