President of Bulgaria kills an
endangered Severtzov’s
argali in a supposedly
protected area in Uzbekistan
According to information provided by the
Deputy Director of the Nuratau State
Strict Reserve (Nuratinskiy Zapovednik)
in Uzbekistan, on 7 November 2008, the
President of Bulgaria visited the reserve.
At the central mountain peak Hayat Bashi
he waited for 2 argali which were chased
towards him by rangers of the reserve,
then he shot one ram. Over the last 2
years, Uzbek authorities have not issued
any export permits for this endangered
wild sheep (listed in CITES Appendix 2
as an urial, Ovis ammon severtzovi). Thus,
it is possible that the Bulgarian president
exported the trophy without a CITES
permit. A hunting permit was issued by
the Cabinet of Ministers, but likely for the
forestry area (leskhoz), not for the
territory of the reserve, where hunting is
generally prohibited. It should be noted
that Bulgaria is a ember of the European
Union and as such is a signatory to
numerous wildlife conventions including
CITES.
Under appropriate circumstances, trophy
hunting can generate substantial funds and
provide incentives for the protection of
endangered species and the ecosystems
they inhabit. In the Nuratau reserve,
however, trophy hunting has negative
impacts on the argali population and its
habitat, far beyond the impact of the take
off of a single old ram. The only
remaining viable population of this
subspecies (last estimates about 1,500
animals) is restricted to the reserve and it
is under pressure from poaching, habitat
degradation and competition by livestock.
No funds from international trophy
hunting are allocated for protection of
Severtzov's argali and/or for local
development in the communities suffering
from land-use restrictions by the reserve.
Poaching and illegal grazing are rampant
and trophy hunting by outsiders in the past
motivated local poachers to increase
hunting intensity, an activity which is
broadly accepted by other local people. It
is said that international trophy hunting is
organized by the Agency for hunting,
protected areas and national parks under
the Main Department for Forestry,
belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture
and Water Management of the Republic
of Uzbekistan. Before any hunting
tourism and CITES permits for
Severtzov’s argali are accepted, it should
be necessary that the Uzbek authorities
made significant efforts that result in real
improvements in the protection of the
Nuratau reserve and initiate a sustainable
hunting management scheme outside the
reserve, ideally involving local
community members.

В Узбекистан архарът се  нарича argali. 

 При закрити микрофони в залата на президента след пресконференцията, когато покани Диков да види звукозаписната техника на диджей Гоце, същият Гоце е казал, че ако се докаже, че е убил архар ще си подаде оставката.

 Изобщо, да убиеш архар.