Dhorpatan reserve to allow wild boar hunting

Kathmandu: In the Dhorpatan hunting reserve area, which has been used for legal hunting of Himalayan blue sheep (Naur) and Himalayan Tahr (Jharal) twice a year, wild boar can also be hunted from now on.

The National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department has started preparations to open wild boar hunting targeting Nepalese hunters.

According to Birendra Prasad Kandel, chief conservation officer of the reserve, 11 wild boars will be hunted in one season. “A hunting quota of 22 boars per year has been determined, hunting companies selected through tenders can hunt”, he said.

The expensive prey of Naur and Jharal is not available to Nepali hunters. Foreign professional hunters are ready to spend millions for that. So far, no Nepali has reached the reserve for legal hunting.

Chief Conservation Officer Kandel said that systematic hunting of wild boars will strengthen the relationship between the local residents and the reserve. “Boar eats the farmers’ crops. Hunting will also help to control it to some extent”, he said, “The state also earns revenue by hunting legally.”

The reserve office said the rate of wild boar hunting will be decided only after the bidding competition. The department is going to call for electronic bids for Naur, Jharal, and wild boar simultaneously.

After the initial study, the reserve sent a suggestion to the department that 16 to 23 wild boars could be hunted annually. Chief Conservation Officer Kandel said that the hunting quota will be set only after a detailed study and counting of boars. Naur and Jharal are calculated every five years. The department determines the hunting quota based on the results of the calculation.