Tibetan Antelope Starting to Recover

Tibetan Antelope Starting to Recover

Feb 2007 - The endangered 
Tibetan antelope, once slaughtered by poachers for the trade 
in luxury shahtoosh shawls, appears be increasing in numbers, 
according to a biologist who has studied the species for more 
than 20 years. 
Returning from a recent 1,000 mile expedition across Tibet's 
remote Chang Tang region, Wildlife Conservation Society 
biologist George Schaller says he found larger numbers than he 
expected of the antelope, Pantholops hodgsonii, known locally 
as chiru. 
Schaller says the increase is due to a combination of better 
enforcement and a growing conservation ethic in local 
communities. 
Chiru silouetted against the Himalayas 
"China has made a major effort to control poaching," said 
Schaller. "The large poaching gangs of the 1990s, which were 
at times arrested with 600 or more chiru hides have largely 
ceased to exist." 
The eight week journey, which was co-funded by the Wildlife 
Conservation Society, WCS, and National Geographic, ranged 
over a sparsely inhabited region between 16,000 and 17,000 
feet high on the Tibetan Plateau. 
Schaller and his team travelled across the rugged and 
windswept 118,000 square mile Chang Tang Reserve, which WCS 
helped convince the Chinese government to establish in 1993. 
There, Schaller, along with WCS staff member Aili Kang and a 
team of Tibetan and Han-Chinese biologists and field 
assistants, counted nearly 9,000 Tibetan antelope. 
This may indicate an increase for this endangered species in 
some places, Schaller said. At the same time, the team 
witnessed no direct evidence of the widespread poaching that 
was evident just a few years ago. 
Biologist George Schaller gives a lecture at the Beijing Zoo, 
2005.  
According to Schaller's past surveys in the Chang Tang 
Reserve, populations of chiru there have risen from an 
estimated 3,900 in 1991 to 5,890 in 2003. 
Tibetan antelope produce the finest wool in the world, known 
as shahtoosh, which translates to king of wool. So fine and 
light they could pass through a finger ring, shahtoosh shawls 
became fashionable in Europe and the United States, beginning 
in the late 1980s. 
The lucrative trade fueled a black market and widespread 
poaching in this remote area. 
In the mid-1990s, Schaller estimated that 75,000 chiru 
remained in the wild, with as many as 20,000 falling to 
poachers annually. 
No comprehensive census of chiru has ever taken place due to 
their sprawling range that spans more than 250,000 square 
miles. 
The team also counted more than 1,000 wild yak, a relatively 
high number for a species that is far more endangered than the 
chiru, due to hunting and hybridization with domestic yak. 
The group saw an increase in wild asses, too, though they are 
persecuted by nomads who believe they compete with livestock 
for grass. 
Herd of chiru on the Tibetan Plateau  
Schaller observed that some nomadic communities living in the 
Chang Tang region have made concerted efforts to safeguard 
their wildlife. They have established local wildlife preserves 
to protect populations of wild yak and other animals. 
"These wholly local Tibetan initiatives are the best means of 
establishing long-lasting conservation efforts, and they 
should be encouraged in every possible way," said Schaller. 
The team traversed the entire northern Chang Tang region, a 
feat that had not been accomplished since 1896 when two 
British army officers made the journey on horseback, said 
Schaller. 
Schaller's expedition used two Land Cruisers and two trucks - 
one of which was lost when it broke through ice while crossing 
a frozen lake and became entombed in mud. 
Now the director for science for the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife 
Conservation Society, Schaller's conservation efforts have led 
to the establishment of five of the world's wildlife reserves, 
including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. 
Schaller is the author of numerous wildlife books, including 
in 1997 "Tibet's Hidden Wilderness: Wildlife and Nomads of the 
Chang Tang Reserve," based on his own pioneering studies and 
supported by long-term observations of species in their 
natural habitats. 

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