(CN) Anti-poaching efforts pay off

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China Daily

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2002-10-30/91593.html

10/30/2002

 

URUMQI: China is achieving success with its efforts to protect Tibetan

antelopes and save the endangered species from the verge of extinction due

to excessive poaching.

For the first time in many years, workers in the Altun Mountains Nature

Reserve have not detected any poaching activity since the previous summer,

said Li Weidong, an official with the protection zone in Northwest China's

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

 

China has established three nature reserves to protect the rare creature.

The Xinjiang reserve and the two others cover more than 600,000 square

kilometres overall, an area 40 times the size of Beijing.

 

Cega, director of the State-level Hoh Xil Nature Reserve Administration in

Northwest China's Qinghai Province, another official reserve, said workers

have inspected the protection zone more than 20 times so far this year and

not a single antelope has been killed.

 

The third protection zone, the Qiangtang Nature Reserve, is in the Tibet

Autonomous Region in Southwest China.

 

Statistics from the three protection zones show that the number of Tibetan

antelopes now stands at around 70,000 and is expected to keep rising if

protective measures are strengthened.

 

Driven by the prospect of huge profits, illegal hunters have resorted to

indiscriminate poaching, particularly at the calving grounds, leading to a

sharp decrease in the number of Tibetan antelopes on the Qinghai-Tibet

Plateau over the past 20 or so years. The wool of the Tibetan antelope is

used to weave shahtoosh shawls, which are each worth about US$10,000 but

cost the lives of three to five Tibetan antelopes.

 

The number of Tibetan antelopes was once as low as 50,000, due to rampant

poaching. In the early 20th century, there were millions of the creatures.

 

The international community can help save Tibetan antelopes from extinction

by removing shahtoosh shawls from fashion shops.

 

The weaving and selling of shahtoosh shawls is illegal in India and the

relevant departments in Britain, France, Italy and the United States have

also intensified their efforts in cracking down on activities involving the

trading of shahtoosh shawls, according to Fan Zhiyong, an official with

China's Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Import and Export

Administrative Office.

 

Xinhua