Srinagar, September 11 – Tibetan antelopes or Chiru will disappear in the next three to four years if steps are not taken to check the production and the demand of shahtoos shawls, which are made by killing the endangered animals, participants at a seminar said here.
The present population of Chiru is estimated around 75,000, out of which only 150 to 200 are in Ladakh region while the rest are in China and Mongolia, state Power Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora said at a seminar on Shahtoos shawls here yesterday.
As per a study, about 20,000 of these are killed in China every year for making shahtoos shawls. If efforts were not initiated to save this species, found at an altitude of over 5000 meters, it would vanish completely within next three to four years, the Minister said.
Jora said in view of the ban imposed on shahtoos in India, efforts should be made to strengthen and encourage other trades like handicrafts, pashmina and carpet-making among people involved in Shatoosh trade.
“Some alternatives are to be found for the sustenance of those who solely depend on shahtoos trade,” he said adding this required serious efforts by governments as well as traders and artisan communities.
