Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Three poachers have been detained in Surkhandarya region for illegally hunting rare markhoors, a species of wild goat listed in both Uzbekistan’s Red Book and the international CITES convention.

According to the regional Department of Ecology, the environmental damage caused by the incident is estimated at 4.5 billion soums.

The event took place on 5 July within the Surkhan Nature Reserve, in the Oltikunlik area. During a routine patrol, reserve rangers spotted three armed men moving across the mountain slopes. The offenders were placed under covert surveillance, and inspectors documented their actions using binoculars and mobile cameras.

By the time the rangers reached the poachers' camp, the men had already shot two animals and were in the process of butchering them. Experts from Termez State University later confirmed that the killed animals belonged to a protected species: one was a male approximately three years old, and the other a young female around one year old.

The perpetrators were apprehended at the scene with physical evidence. Case materials have been handed over to law enforcement authorities.

A preliminary investigation is currently underway.