(CN) Shahtoosh

[Guest guest]

China Daily

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2002-02-21/57355.html

(ZHANG YONG)

02/21/2002

 

Tibetan antelope, one of the country's rare animal species, are holding on

to survival by the skin of their teeth, as shahtoosh shawls - a product made

from the fur of the antelopes - continue to be the fashion.

Statistics with the State Forestry Bureau said the number of Tibetan

antelope has dropped from millions in the early 20th century to less than

60,000 to date, with some 20,000 antelope being poached annually.

 

Xiao Penghu, an official in charge of the Administrative Bureau of Hoh Xil

Nature Reserve - the country's largest nature reserve for the antelope -

said the shahtoosh shawl, a sign of high social status, has become

fashionable in Europe and North America since the late 1980s, spreading

worldwide.

 

Under the new fad, a shahtoosh shawl - of which a medium-sized coat costs

the lives of three antelope - can sell at more than US$30,000 at the

international market, according to Xiao.

 

Driven by huge profits, illegal hunters - mainly poor farmers from western

China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai and Gansu provinces - continue to

head in hope to the nature reserve for the antelopes.

 

The antelope fur is sent to Nepal and India for elaboration after

preliminary processing in Tibet, and finally to the international market.

 

More than 1,000 farmers illegally entered the nature reserve last year to

poach wild animals, according to the bureau. The illegal trade in the shawls

still runs rampant globally in defiance of an international ban, according

to a recent undercover investigation conducted by the International Fund for

Animal Welfare (IFAW), a non-governmental organization which aims to protect

animals.

 

In a recent investigation, IFAW investigators, using concealed cameras,

posed as buyers and were offered the luxury shawls in a boutique in Rome.

 

The footage was then passed on to the Italian authorities, who subsequently

raided the boutique.

 

On Tuesday, IFAW China said the findings of the investigation are alarming,

and prove that the trade is continuing despite the increasing international

concern for the survival of the Tibetan antelope.

 

Each shahtoosh shawl is contributing to an ecological tragedy, an official

with IFAW China said, urging followers of the fashion to reject the shawl

before " it's too late. "

 

Besides Hoh Xil, the country has another two nature reserves for Tibetan

antelopes - one in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and

the other in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Illegal hunters will be punished by

local governments under the country's laws for protecting wild animals.

 

Both local and central governments poured more funds into the ecological

construction in the three nature reserves last year after Vice-Premier Li

Lanqing called for " official efforts " to protect the country's Tibetan

antelopes in May 2000.

 

Besides protecting the local environment and fighting against illegal

hunting, domestic scientists are also working for the artificial propagation

of Tibetan antelope.

 

Little, however, has been achieved in this field so far, according to an

official with the State Forestry Bureau.