Five persons have been sentenced to six months in jail for illegally hunting two ibexes, an endangered species of wild goat in Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The jail terms were given in two separate instances of illegal huntin in the area.
In the first case, a magistrate of the Gilgit wildlife department sent two people to jail for six months each for illegally hunting an ibex in Bar Valley of Nagar district.
The men, identified as Janan and Hasnain, were also fined Rs 50,000 each for the crime under wildlife laws.
The two were jailed for six months besides the fine.
"The sentence came after the suspects confessed and evidence was produced before the magistrate," Hunza Range Forest Officer Shabbir Baig was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.
He said besides the spent bullet shells, the head and horns of the dead animal were seized from the possession of the men.
The sentence was given yesterday in Gilgit, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
In second case, the sentence was handed down to three men who killed an ibex in Ghizer Valley recently.
Besides the six month imprisonment, the three men were fined Rs 50,000.
The men hunted the ibex in Ishkoman last month and were caught red-handed by wildlife guards and community members on surveillance.
"The three have been jailed for six months," Gilgit Forest Officer Ijlal Ahmad said.
He added the sentence would discourage illegal hunting in the region.
Illegal hunting and consequent sentence to the perpetrators has come in the midst of trophy hunting, a government sponsored programme, which aims to protect endangered animals from being hunted illegally.
In November 2015, Gilgit-Baltistan government sold permits to hunt four markhors, 60 ibexes and eight blue sheep in the region.
The licence fee for markhors, Himalayan blue sheep and ibexes was set at USD 67,500, USD 8,800 and USD 3,000 respectively.
