Tibetan Antelope to figure in CITES meeting at Geneva

New Delhi, Sep 30 (UNI) The threat to the existence of Tibetan Antelopes or Chiru due to its poaching for making Shatoosh shawls will be on the agenda of the coming meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The meeting will be held in Geneva from October two to six.

A senior official of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, who is going to participate in the meeting told UNI that India will be placing before the Committee the latest regarding the protective and preventive action taken to protect and conserve the Tibetan Antelope.

He said it cannot be said the trade in Shatoosh Shawls made of the hair of the Antelope had been stopped, but the action taken by the authorities concerned had yielded results.

He said the Antelope had already been put in Schedule One of the Wildlife Protection Act.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government has also put it in Schedule one of their State Wildlife Act, he said.

According to Wildife studies the Tibetan Antelope may disappear in the next three to four years if steps are not taken to stop production of Shatoosh shawls.

The surveys put the present population of the Antelope at about 150 to 200 in Ladakh.

Aabout 20,000 of these are killed in China every year for making Shatoosh shawls.

The current population of the Tibetan Antelope is about 75000.

Besides India, the species is found in China and Mongolia, at the height of over 5000 mts.

UNI NAZ LS VC1435