DUSHANBE, January 19, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Four attempts of illegal hunting Marco Polo sheep were warded off in Tajikistan last year, chairman of the Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of Tajikistan, Khursand Zikirov, told reporters in Dushanbe on January 18.

According to him, those cases were warded off during 30 joint raids conducted in cooperation with the police and security departments of the Murgab district in Gorno Badakhshan.  “Two poachers were convicted,” Zikirov said.

We will recall that a two-year moratorium on hunting Marco Polo sheep was introduced in Tajikistan in January 2009.  Environmental officials in Gorno Badakhshan say that according to the findings of survey that was conducted in the region from December 6 to December 20 2009, the population of Marco Polo sheep almost doubled in Gorno Badakhshan compared to 2002.  According to the findings, some 20,000-24,000 Marco Polo sheep now live in Gorno Badakhshan now, while in 2002, there were only 12,000-14,000 Marco Sheep in the region.  Specialists say some 40,000 Marco Polo sheep lived in the high mountains of Gorno Badakhshan before the collapse of the Soviet Union.