Confiscated: Shawls of Death

At least 3 - 4 Tibetan antelopes or chiru - highly endangered species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) - must be killed for a single shawl. Shahtoosh is doing to the chiru what ivory did to elephants, horn to rhinos, and skin and bone to tigers.

In June 2004, when the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries tipped off Dubai Municipality about an ongoing illegal sale of shahtoosh shawls in city stores, the inspectors acted with lightening speed. Posing as customers, they simultaneously went to several shops in different areas of Dubai. The outcome: 111 shahtoosh shawls - the ultimate luxury in wool - were confiscated from three stores. Of these, 108 shawls in the haul turned out to be genuine. This means that an estimated 300 - 400 chiru were slaughtered to make these.

Traders are aware of the illegality of their actions. On a visit to Dubai the same month, a senior enforcement officer of the CITES secretariat in Geneva had chanced upon shahtoosh shawls (the asking price: AED 7000 - 10,000) in a handicrafts store. He had pointed out that trading in shahtoosh was unlawful and customers weren't allowed to leave or enter the country in possession of the 'king of wools.' "Oh, that's not a problem," the salesman had declared. "Just put it in your jacket pocket and travel. No one will check."

As it happened, the shop lost its prized shawls in what was the first ever confiscation of shahtoosh in the UAE.

A problem that UAE enforcement authorities encountered in the past was the difficulty in distinguishing shahtoosh from pashmina. Following the confiscation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries acquired identification kits from the CITES UK office. The kits clearly spell out how to determine shahtoosh by examining its fibre under a microscope.

Shahtoosh is derived from a fine haired under layer that hugs the chiru's skin. It is a fibre so thin - 1/6th of human hair - that it is woven into a shawl fine enough to be threaded through a ring; so it's also known as 'ring shawl.' Demand for shahtoosh shawls by the world's elite since the 1980's has left a trail of bloodshed, since the burgeoning western market fueled a dramatic increase in poaching with chiru being hunted down in doves in Tibet.

Chiru are skinned and raw pelt collected. It is then smuggled into India over the high mountain passes from Tibet or via Nepal. In the state of Jammu and Kashmir hair is plucked from pelts, and shawls hand woven, after which they are illegally transported to fashion capitals in wealthy countries where they sell for $2,000 to $15,000 or more depending on size and quality.

By 1997, the illegal trade in shahtoosh had become rampant. Some 50 years ago there were upwards of a million chiru on the Tibetan Plateau. Today there are barely 65 - 75,000.

The Tibetan antelope has the most stringent legal protection there is to offer, whether international, national or local. It is listed in Appendix 1 of CITES (no commercial trade permitted) since 1979, as a Class 1 protected species in China (same category as the giant panda) and similar high levels of protection in Nepal, India as well as, in the state of Kashmir, where the prized shawls are manufactured.

Despite this, all is not well with the hapless chiru. Clandestine trade persists and it is possible to for the wealthy to buy shahtoosh in markets around the world whether it is Milan, Madrid, Paris, London, Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo or Delhi. And, as the recent confiscations in Dubai demonstrate, here too.

Of the recent shahtoosh seizures in Dubai, a decision is yet to be taken on how the confiscated shawls will be dealt with. The three shawls that are not shahtoosh, will be returned to shops they were seized from.

But what about the role of customers in curbing the trade? Shahtoosh is a no-no! It is against the law - check out UAE's Federal Law No. 11 for 2002 Regulating and Controlling International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Buying it means contributing to the demise of an endangered species and, it is cruel and unethical. Not only should one not buy, the presence of shahtoosh in stores should be reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries for Dubai and Northern Emirates; and the Federal Environmental Agency in Abu Dhabi.

It is far better to buy and encourage alternative products such as pashmina (combed from a breed of domestic goat with fine hair) and yak wool that do not require animals to be slaughtered.