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<-- Tibetan antelope, also called the Chiru. (Click on the image to enlarge it)

Take a good look at your favorite winter accessory: the shawl. If you are like most women from South Asia, particularly India, Pakistan and Nepal, it is quite likely that shawls are an integral part of your winter wear. And it is also quite likely that several of those shawls are high-end pashmina and possibly even the very expensive, ultra soft shahtoosh.

If you own a shahtoosh, you will be familiar with its historic legacy as wool so soft that an entire shawl can be passed through a ring. You will also be familiar with its extraordinary lightness, its softness, its delicacy and its unbelievable warmth.

But maybe you don't know the whole truth about shahtoosh. Let me tell you. 'Shahtoosh' is the name given to wool derived from the Tibetan antelope, also called the Chiru. The fabric woven from this wool carries the same name and is worn by the fashionable worldwide. The Chiru's natural habitat is Tibet - with populations ranging into Ladakh. Nature has provided it with a two layered fur, to give it the warmth that it requires for survival. The visible coat is the second coat and is coarse. The short, fine haired under layer hugs the Chiru's skin. Shahtoosh is derived from the undercoat.

Once we know that Shahtoosh is derived from an untamed animal, which roams wild on the Tibetan plateau desert, it takes little imagination to realise how this wool is harvested. THE ANIMAL MUST BE KILLED.

After being poached in the most brutal manner in the arid Tibetan plateau, the wool is smuggled into the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, often via Nepal. There, traditional weavers fashion the wool into shahtoosh shawls, scarves and stoles, to be smuggled elsewhere around the world. Many pieces are sold in the domestic Indian market, while others are smuggled into Pakistan, Europe & the US.

Traditionally a product limited to the subcontinent, shahtoosh shawls have become accessories and fashion statements for people all over the world. Along with the prosperity of the emigrant Indian community, the western world's sudden social shift away from fur products caused the demand for Shahtoosh shawls and scarves to spiral upwards.

As a result, where an estimated 1,000,000 animals roamed in the Tibetan Plateau in the earlier part of the last century, current estimates of the Chiru population range between 50,000 and 75,000. Chinese government sources estimate that 20,000 animals are poached annually.

At that rate of poaching, it doesn't take much thinking to realise that THE CHIRU WILL BE EXTINCT WITHIN THE NEXT THREE YEARS!

International Trade in Shahtoosh is also banned due its inclusion in Appendix I of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). As a result, should you feel the urge to purchase a shahtoosh from your favourite store the next time you visit India, you would do well to remember that the sale and purchase of shahtoosh products is illegal all over the world. So if the shawl isn't seized at the airport in Delhi, it is quite possible that it may when you return home to the US. And while the shawl will be confiscated, you will be sent to prison and tried for trafficking in illegal animal products.

In India, the shahtoosh has been a traditional gift that grandmothers would pass on to their granddaughters. The item was also a part of the trousseau of many Punjabi brides. And since the trade of Shahtoosh has only been banned since 1977, it is quite likely that the shawl your grandmother gave you was legally acquired. However, in many countries around the world, even wearing Shahtoosh is illegal, including in India. So be warned should you feel the need to flaunt your prized heirloom.

So what is the alternative? The Pashmina shawl, also famed for its unbelievable softness, is a viable alternative. And recent experiments with fine Mongolian sheep's wool has shown encouraging results. In fact, most people have been unable to distinguish between the original Shahtoosh and the alternative products, which are produced without endangering any animals. The only way to successfully eliminate demand is to create an environment where people voluntarily say NO to Shahtoosh and YES to the Chiru.

So take an active part in this international campaign to protect the Chiru. Don't buy anymore Shahtoosh shawls. Should you discover any person trading in Shahtoosh, whether openly or clandestinely, contact your nearest police station and Wildlife Agency. And help that baby Chiru above live.

For more information regarding the Chiru and how to help stop the Shahtoosh trade, visit "The Wildlife Trust of India" at their website below:

http://www.wildlifetrustofindia.org

If you have any information pertaining to the sale of Shahtoosh products, email Siddharth Singh at: sidsingh_81@hotmail.com

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