A Rare Tibetan Antelope Is Being Killed To Make $20,000 Scarves

Over the past forty years, Earth has lost just about 1/2 its life. Now, it’s up to activists to prevent further species from going extinct. One animal under threat is the Tibetan antelope. Reportedly, Westerners are paying $20,000 for one shawl, or shahtoosh, made from the threatened species.

According to National Geographic, the Tibetan antelope produces short, warm fleece. As a result, it is highly sought after by affluent buyers around the world. Shahtoosh is found almost exclusively in the Chantang area of Tibet, on the Tibetan Plateau.

A minimum of four Tibetan antelope are required to provide enough wool for just one scarf. The antelope are wild, which means they can’t be domesticated and shorn. As a result, the animals ar killed and also the wool is stripped from their carcasses. Afterward, the poachers smuggle the raw wool into India, where artisans in Kashmir weave it into scarves.

In the past century, global demand for shahtoosh has wiped outnearly 90 percent of the Tibetan antelope population, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Before the scarves became a fashion trend, they were a valued dowry item in India. Now, they’re considered “exotic” and are sought after by affluent Westerners. For the right size, color, and design, some folks will pay up to $20,000 for a single shawl.

 

In Sweden, customs officials regularly seize shahtoosh. In fact, between 2015 and 2018, the equivalent of over 800 Tibetan bovid was appropriated. Most of the offenders were reportedly from Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East. “Shahtoosh is one in every of the most priorities for our workplace,” Robert Bruce Mathias Lörtscher, the pinnacle of the team charged with implementing CITES in European country, told National Geographic.

Recovery efforts to save the Tibetan antelope became in the first decade of this century. China took lead by providing better enforcement of the animal’s strict CITES listing, which bans any international trade of the Tibetan antelope. In addition, China swollen Chantang National Nature Reserve, the protected space in and around that the animals.

 

That’s not all — in 2015, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Chinese Academy of Sciences classified Tibetan antelope as “near threatened” in the country’s National Red List of Vertebrates. The following year, the IUCN downlisted the animal from “endangered” to “near threatened.” Approximately 100,000 to 150,000 are estimated to remain in the wild.

Conservation efforts to protect the Tibetan antelope exist. But, they alone are not enough. Conscious readers like you need to take action and share this news to help put an end to the trend of making $20,000 antelope wool shawls. Not only is killing four animals for their wool inhumane, but it’s a trend that is best forgotten, considering $20,000 could go a long way in curbing global issues, such as poverty, homelessness, and inequality.