Rowland Ward is delighted to announce that we have added a new official measurer in Tajikistan, Mr. Rasul Zikrov. He is a student of biology and is employed by Association of Nature Conservation Organizations in Tajikistan (ANCOT), an organization that works throughout the country making local communities aware of the valuable wildlife resources they have in their vast mountain ranges in the form of argalis, urials, ibex, and markhor.
Currently ANCOT advises 12 conservancies on developing infrastructure for tourism and hunting. Throughout the year, it conducts surveys in selected conservancies, reports conservation results, and makes suggestions. ANCOT firmly believes in, and focuses on, conservation through sustainable use and community-based wildlife management. This approach motivates locals to refrain from poaching and protect wildlife populations while receiving benefits from their ecosystems. Also benefiting are several key wildlife species that are not hunted, including snow leopards and bearded vultures.
In recent years, Tajikistan has produced some tremendous Marco Polo argali, urial, and markhor trophies, and we suspect Mr. Zikrov will be measuring animals that will find their way into the nearly 130-year-old Rowland Ward Records of Big Game in the years to come.
