DUSHANBE, October 19, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Specialists from the Committee for Environmental Protection and researchers from the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan plan to launch a detailed survey of the population of Marco Polo sheep in Tajikistan, Khurndmurod Zikirov, the head of the Committee for Environmental Protection, remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on October 18.

“For this, we have concluded an agreement with international organization, Safari Club International (SCI), and under this agreement our specialists and researchers from the Academy of Sciences will conduct the detailed survey of the population of Marco Polo sheep in Tajikistan in November-December this year,” said Zikirov, “If weather does not allow us to conduct the survey this year, the survey will be conducted in March-April 2011.”

According to him, the Committee for Environmental Protection in cooperation with a number of public associations conducted the survey of the population of Marco Polo sheep last April under financial support of GTZ Tajikistan.  “The survey conducted this year has shown that there are now some 24,000 Marco Polo sheep in Gorno Badakhshan,” said Zikirov, “Tajik researchers, however, question the results.”

According to official figures, there were some 8,000-10,000 Marco Polo sheep in Gorno Badakhshan in 2001.  Marco Polo sheep has entered Red book as endangered species.

We will recall that a two-year moratorium on hunting Marco Polo sheep introduced in Tajikistan on January 1, 2009 was lifted ahead of schedule last month.

In the 1980s, some 60,000 Marco Polo sheep reportedly lived in the high mountains of Gorno Badakhshan.

The Marco Polo sheep (Ovis ammon polii) is a subspecies of argali sheep, named after Marco Polo. Their habitat is the mountainous regions of Central Asia. Marco Polo sheep are distinguishable mostly by their large size and spiraling horns. Their conservation status is "near threatened" and efforts have been made to protect their numbers and keep them from commercial hunting. It has also been suggested that crossing them with domestic sheep could have agricultural benefits.