What They Didnt Tell You About Shahtoosh

In 1988, Dr George Schaller, one of the worlds foremost field biologists, was roaming the wilds of Chang Tang in Tibet when he stumbled upon a discovery that exploded a 500-year-old myth. The conservation world was stunned when Dr Schaller announced that the highly-prized shahtoosh shawls came from the slaughtered Tibetan antelope or chiru a species poised on the brink of extinction.

Wildlife conservationist Ashok Kumar, whose ancestral family lives in Kashmir, recalls: When Dr Schaller told me about his discovery, I started asking around. But my mother and aunts informed me that wild goats have been donating shahtoosh wool to us for four generations! It is not widely known that a 2 metre by 1 metre shahtoosh shawl weighing 100 g requires 300-400 g of shahtoosh, or the lives of three chiru. This means that the chiru population could be wiped out there are only around 75,000 surviving chiru, mostly concentrated in Tibet and Xinjiang and Qinghai in China.

 

But for reasons of convenience, history and commerce, little is known about the origin of shahtoosh. Some traders say that the fibres come from the wool of the Himalayan ibex (also an endangered species); some say that it comes from the pashmina goat; and some say that it comes from the under feathers of a bird known as the Siberian goose. Those who admit that chiru is the source of shahtoosh claim that the wisps are painstakingly collected from bushes and rocks in the Himalayas. But conservationists insist that the only way to get the wool is to kill the animal first.

The oldest recorded myth about shahtoosh dates to 1660, when Francois Bernier, the first European to visit Kashmir wrote that the exquisite wool comes from the breast of the wild goat. Dr Schaller uncovered the real story when, on a visit to a small Tibetan border town, he saw herdsmen plucking wool from antelope hides. In the courtyard of one dealer were sacks of wool ready to be smuggled into Nepal and from there to Kashmir where the wool is woven into scarves and shawls, he recounts. That was when he got in touch with Kumar and Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), an NGO which investigates illegal trade in wildlife.

Helped by Schaller, Wright and Kumar began their investigations which culminated in a study titled Fashioned for Extinction. The pioneering document on the shahtoosh trade not only uncovers the truth about the origin of shahtoosh, but also claims to expose another alarming fact that Indian traders barter tiger bones for the Tibetan raw wool. There are only 3,000 tigers left in India, and it is estimated that one tiger is poached every day.

For every bag of tiger bones, a trader is richer by two bags of shahtoosh wool. It was not until 1993 that this connection between tiger bones and shahtoosh wool was discovered. In a shocking case, three traders arrested in Ladakh confessed that tiger bones and skins were bartered for shahtoosh and that the profits were used to buy arms for Kashmiri militants. The profit margins are huge: WPSI estimates that after the barter, a trader earns a profit margin of 600 per cent.

Says Kumar: It is incomprehensible how the trade in tiger parts is going to be brought to a halt if the government cannot curb the trade in the primary barter item, shahtoosh. Trading and hunting in the antelope is banned in India as the animal is listed in Schedule 1 under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Internationally, too chiru hunting has been declared illegal by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES).

Two years ago, the Ministry of Environment and Forests had issued a statement which said: The next time you see a shahtoosh article, simply say a firm No. Also, bring the trade to the notice of the nearest wildlife authorities or police stations. But the antelope poacher gets a lease of life from the Jammu and Kashmir legislation which allows shahtoosh trade. The J&K Wildlife Protection Act, long overdue for amendment, is at odds with the national Act.

It is ridiculous that trade in shahtoosh is allowed in J&K. This breaks every international and national law. There is obviously a nexus between Kashmiri traders and the authorities, says Wright. WPSI has issued a notice to the J&K government asking it to explain where the Kashmiris get the shahtoosh wool from. This has become a very technical issue. It is true that Kashmiris can trade in shahtoosh legally internally, but they cannot do so legally externally, within India or outside India, says Kumar.

But illegal trade is flourishing; Fashioned for Extinction traces the trade route. The tiger bones are taken by road to Dharchula, in the northern tip of UP. From here, there are two passages to Tibet. The first, along the Indian side of the border, goes through the Tawa Ghat to the Lipu Lekh pass on the Tibetan border. The second, more popular route, involves crossing the Kali river to Nepal. Then, via Darchula and Kalangghar, the goods are taken to near the Lipu Lekh pass where the borders of India, Nepal and Tibet meet. Meanwhile, the Tibetans reach the border on yak and mule caravans via Khampas in Tibet. This is where the trade takes place.

Only a few Kashmiri families have the skill to spin and weave the wool. WPSI finds that the traders supply the finished product to leading Indian and international stores. The figures on the trade are not well-documented. But seizures provide a clue to the size of the market.

The number of shawls seized in Europe since 1994 is believed to total over 1,000. These shawls are imported either from India, or via Hongkong. In India, the list is endless. A Kashmir Government Arts Emporium advertised shahtoosh for sale in 1995; in 1996, Society magazine had a four page spread showing models draped in shahtoosh (WPSI drew the Press Council of Indias attention to this, which served a legal notice to the magazine); shops in five-star hotels of Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta sell shahtoosh shawls; there are offers of shahtoosh shawls on the Internet.

Everybody knows that trade in shahtoosh is banned. But the issue is: can you through banning prove that your system is working better. We are not thinking dynamically. Laws and more laws will not bring us any closer to the solution, says Neena Gupta of the Centre for Science and Environment. Adds Kumar, The problem is that the enforcement structure is weak. The only way to put an end to the slaughter of the Tibetan Antelope is for people to stop buying shahtoosh.

The price clearly is not a deterrent. The cheapest shawl costs around Rs 12,000; the most expensive commands more than its weight in gold it could cost as much as a few lakhs. Meanwhile, a Delhi-based wool trading company, Akhil Chandra Wools, claims that it has developed a cheaper and more importantly, an ecologically-friendly alternative to shahtoosh. The wool, called shahmina, comes from baby cashmere and is soft and elegant. But unfortunately, it is only almost as fine as shahtoosh. While shahtoosh has a fibre diametre of 11 micron, the shahmina fibre diametre measures 14 micron. Consequently, a shahmina shawl is about 100 gm heavier than a shahtoosh shawl. Shahmina is the closest substitute for shahtoosh. It took us several years to get this fineness, says Dhruv Chandra of Akhil Chandra Wools.

Chandra is looking for partners to market the shahmina in India and internationally. Will a successful alternative to shahtoosh help in curbing the illegal trade? The alternative concept rarely works. The trade is governed by the market. Can the alternative ensure that the price of the shahtoosh will come down? Unless that happens, the trade will continue to thrive, says Neena Singh. And the chiru will continue to go, one by one.