Tibetan antelope: India
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Tibetan antelope
Chiru goat is also known as the Tibetan antelope, has long been hunted for its underfur (Shahtoosh), which is renowned for its quality and has traditionally been transported to Srinagar, where it is woven into an extremely fine fabric used to make shawls.
Steps for protection
Jan 2018/ captive breeding not possible: Ministry of Environment
Environment ministry rules out the possibility of conservation breeding of Chiru goat, also known as the Tibetan antelope, as to collect the fur to make Shahtoosh shawls animals have to be killed
India’s environment ministry has ruled out the possibility of conservation breeding of the Chiru goat, a ‘near threatened’ species whose underfur is used for making the famous Shahtoosh shawls.
In 2017, the parliamentary standing committee on science & technology, environment & forests had recommended to the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) to conserve and breed the Chiru goat, which can then be given to the shawl makers. The panel said this would provide a sustainable livelihood opportunity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
MoEFCC has clarified that conservation breeding of the Tibetan antelope for these shawls is not possible.
The environment ministry informed the parliamentary panel that “it takes 3-5 hides to make a single shawl, and the wool cannot be sheared or combed, so to collect the fur the animals have to be killed.”
In 2017, the Chiru goat species was assessed as ‘near threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because their current population can only be maintained with continued high levels of protection in its natural range and strict controls on trade of the shawls made from its underfur.
The government believes that any relaxation in the protection regime of the animal would lead to a rapid population decline due to commercial poaching.
The central government told the parliamentary committee that Chiru inhabits the high-altitude Tibetan plateau and requires large a expanse of land for its movement and ranging patterns to fulfil its feeding and breeding requirements. Rearing the goat in captivity is extremely difficult.
“The quality of wool depends on the cold and harsh climatic factors operating at high altitudes (3,800m up to 5,500m) where this animal occurs in nature. It therefore, may not serve the purpose, if it is kept in captivity below this altitude,” the government said.
The environment ministry clarified that “any attempt to do conservation breeding of Chiru at very high altitude regions of Ladakh ( more than 3,800m) may neither be economical nor feasible as humans cannot be posted there continuously for more than 2-3 months...”
“Captive rearing of Chiru or Tibetan antelope will neither serve the purpose of conservation nor can provide raw material for weavers as these animals cannot be bred in captivity and animals have to be killed to collect their wool to make the shawls,” the ministry added.
