Civil society outraged over rare Markhor’s ‘killing’

Srinagar/ Baramulla, Jan 16: A Markhor has been “killed”, and Kashmir’s conservation story is on trial.

Videos of the alleged killing have triggered demands for an independent probe, exposing deep cracks in wildlife governance meant to protect India’s rarest wild goat and a symbol of Kashmir’s fragile mountain ecology.

This has triggered a storm of accusations that conservation programmes meant to protect the animal may themselves be compromised by corruption, collusion, and lack of oversight.

Civil society groups have demanded an independent investigation after videos circulated online allegedly showed a Markhor being killed in the Kazinag National Park landscape in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, followed by the removal and suspected smuggling of its horns and head.

The allegations, first publicly flagged by the Environmental Policy Group (EPG) and later submitted to the Forest Department, have shaken confidence in conservation governance in the region, which is home to India’s only viable population of the endangered species.

“This is not just about one animal,” said a joint statement issued by six civil society platforms, including the J&K RTI Movement, Pir Panjal Conservation Foundation, Forest Rights Coalition – Jammu and Kashmir, Civil Society for Justice and Development, the Gujjar-Bakerwal Youth Welfare Conference, and Nature Conservancy Alliance (NCA). “A dead Markhor represents institutional failure.”

Markhor (Capra falconeri) is listed under Schedule I species of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

As such, it enjoys the highest level of legal protection.

It is also classified as Near Threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

Any hunting or trade involving the species is a criminal offence.

What has alarmed conservationists and rights groups alike is the allegation that those involved in the incident may include individuals linked to the Department of Wildlife Protection and to community-based “Markhor Watchers” programmes – initiatives designed to involve locals in protecting wildlife.

If proven, the accusations would undermine years of official claims that community-led conservation has helped stabilise the Markhor population in Kazinag, a rugged Himalayan landscape near the Line of Control (LoC).

“Community-based conservation depends on trust,” the statement said. “If people trained and funded as wildlife protectors are involved in poaching, the entire model collapses.”

The groups also warned against what they described as a pattern of blaming indigenous pastoral communities – particularly the Gujjar and Bakerwal tribes – while shielding officials and influential Non-Governmental Organisations.

“For generations, these communities have coexisted with wildlife,” said a member of the Forest Rights Coalition. “They are too often made scapegoats when systems fail.”

Government agencies, along with organisations involved, have spent crores of rupees on Markhor conservation over the past decade through monitoring programmes, awareness campaigns, and projects driven by NGOs.

The newest allegations have resurrected long-lingering questions about how those funds had been spent and whether the funding generated quantifiable ecological results.

“Crores of rupees have been spent, but there is zero transparency,” the statement said, calling for a special financial and social audit of all Markhor-related programmes.

Particular criticism was directed at the Jammu and Kashmir Wildlife Board, a statutory body meant to provide independent oversight.

The groups alleged the board has increasingly functioned as a “rubber stamp,” populated by individuals lacking scientific credentials or field experience, and used to legitimise questionable decisions.

They also accused a small group of NGOs of monopolising conservation funding and policy influence, creating conflicts of interest that marginalise independent experts and local communities.

“There is an NGO-official nexus that has turned conservation into an industry,” the statement said.

The civil society platforms have demanded a time-bound, independent inquiry or a special investigation team to probe the alleged poaching, the reconstitution of the Wildlife Board with qualified experts and community representatives, and the recovery of public funds if misuse is established.

It is not clear whether an internal inquiry has been initiated so far.

For many in Kashmir, the Markhor – with its distinctive spiral horns – carries symbolic weight beyond conservation statistics.

Its survival in Kazinag has often been presented as a rare environmental success story in a region otherwise defined by conflict and mistrust.

“If accountability is avoided now, public trust in conservation governance will collapse irreversibly,” the joint statement said.

The groups said that they planned to pursue the matter through Right to Information (RTI) requests, legal action, and public consultations until an independent investigation was conducted.

The Markhor killing has emerged as a litmus test for whether conservation serves the interests of wildlife and communities or the entrenched interests in Kashmir.

NOTHING RECENT

However, according to the Wildlife Warden for North Kashmir, Intesar Suhail, the video had been shot in February 2022.

He said the department had reviewed information about the carcass of the Markhor killed by a leopard.

Suhail said that as part of the research purpose, the horn and head of the carcass of the Markhor were collected.

He said the specimen was collected to ascertain the age of the Markhor.

Suhail said there was a complete record of the event with the department, and it was an old video.