Trophy hunting has saved the urial wild sheep. That’s the conclusion of environmentalist Billy Offland, who visited a game reserve in Pakistan to see how regulated hunting works at first hand.
Padhri game reserve consists of 25,000 acres of wilderness in the Jehlum district of Punjab, Pakistan. It is the only habitat where the rare Punjab urial sheep is found. Urial conservation is paid for by trophy hunting the sheep themselves plus Himalayan ibex. Padhri also offers bird shooting, including partidge shoots.
Visiting Padhri is part of what Billy calls his ‘conservation journey’. He says: “Pakistan is one of the best examples of sustainable-use conservation in the world. For someone like me who is not a hunter, that came across as quite an abstract thought.”
Billy runs the SustainaBillyt channel on YouTube (link below) where he visits and reports on wildlife conservation projects around the world.
▶ For more about Padhri Private Game Reserve, visit PadhriHunt.com
▶ Find out more about Billy’s on YouTube and Instagram