Turkey’s Natural Conservation Directorate holds tender for hunting of 159 wild animals

Turkey’s Nature Conservation and National Parks Directorate announced that tenders will be organized for the hunting of 159 hook-horned mountain goats, Anatolian wild sheep, and wild goats in 15 different provinces for “hunting tourism.”

Anatolian wild sheep

Duvar English

Turkey's Nature Conservation and National Parks General Directorate of the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry announced that it will hold tenders for the killing of 159 chamois (rupicapra rupicapra), Anatolian wild sheep (ovis gmelini anatolica), and wild goats (xapra aegagrus) in 15 different provinces within the scope of "hunting tourism.”

For instance, hunting Anatolian wild sheep in central Karaman province was priced 675,000 Turkish liras ($24,182). Hunting wild goats in a hunting reserve in eastern Adıyaman province costs 220,000 liras ($7,881) while hunting red deer in the capital Ankara costs 120,000 liras ($4,300). If the horns of the killed animal are "faulty," the hunting fee is also low.

Nature Conservation Directorate did not announce the data number of animals killed for the so-called hunting tourism and the revenue for 2022 and did not explain why it was not announced even though it has regularly announced data, according to reporting by the daily BirGün.

According to the latest data, 1,835 animals were killed in the 2020-2021 season, and the state earned a total of 26.85 million Turkish liras. Wild goat, wild boar, chamois, roe deer, red deer, Anatolian wild sheep, and red deer were among the animals hunted for money.

In addition, 891 hunters were authorized to kill these local animals during this hunting season, and 558 of them were foreign hunters.

Some 21,496 foreign hunters came to Turkey to hunt animals, while 6,735 local hunters also participated in hunting activities between 2000 and 2021, according to data from the Directorate.

Between 2000 and 2021, a total of 32,116 wild boars, 4,268 wild goats, 324 chamois, 978 roe deer, 664 red deer, 88 Anatolian wild sheep, 31 bears, 60 gazelles, and two wolves were hunted in exchange for a fee paid to the state.