Contacts:
Photos available to media from TPP and WCS.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Status Review of the Tibetan Antelope
SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) yesterday announced the initiation of a status review for the Tibetan antelope, a rare species native to the Tibetan Plateau region, concluding that the species "has declined drastically in the past 30 years."
The April 25 decision is in response to an October 1999 joint petition to list the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii) as an endangered species pursuant to the U.S. Endangered Species Act, submitted by the Tibetan Plateau Project (TPP) and the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
"The status review is the first step toward a potential decision to list the
Tibetan antelope as an endangered species in the U.S.," said Justin Lowe,
Director of the Tibetan Plateau Project. "No other US law can confer a degree of protection for the Tibetan antelope similar to the ESA, making an endangered listing essential to halting the shahtoosh trade in the US and protecting the antelope in the Tibetan Plateau region."
"WCS and TPP are encouraged by the strong support for our petition shown by the USFWS. However, this finding does not assure the Tibetan antelope's listing. Conservation groups and concerned governments will need to continue to cooperate throughout the review process to assist the USFWS in making a
determination to list the Tibetan antelope as endangered," said Dr. Joshua
Ginsberg, WCS Director of Asia Programs.
The WCS/TPP joint petition proposes that the USFWS list the Tibetan antelope -- also called "chiru" -- under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as "endangered" throughout its entire range in China and India because of the rapid decline in the chiru population, principally due to poaching for shahtoosh, the antelope's valuable wool.
Under ESA regulations, an endangered listing would prohibit the sale of
shahtoosh in interstate and foreign commerce, ban interstate and foreign
transport of shahtoosh in the course of commercial activity, and create
opportunities to provide financial and technical support to range countries for chiru conservation.
"The status of the Tibetan antelope meets all of the criteria under the
Endangered Species Act required for an 'endangered' designation," said WCS' Dr. Ginsberg.
Based on the field research of wildlife biologist Dr. George Schaller, WCS
Director of Science and the world's leading authority on the Tibetan antelope, the petition found that the total number of chiru -- the only genus of large mammal endemic to the Tibetan Plateau -- was as low as 65,000-72,500 in the mid-1990s.
"The mid-1990s' estimate represents a population decline of 85%," based on an historical population of 500,000 chiru, the USFWS said in yesterday's finding. Using conservative estimates of 1,000-3,000 chiru deaths annually and a contemporary population of 75,000, the USFWS concluded that the "species is likely to go functionally extinct within the next 25 to 75 years."
However, in December, 1998, China's State Forestry Administration estimated
that as many as 20,000 chiru are killed annually, which could result in the
Tibetan antelope's extinction within five years or less.
Speaking from Beijing, China, where he has just concluded meetings with the
State Forestry Administration, Dr. Ginsberg noted, "The Chinese government
feels very strongly that improved enforcement of trade bans and reduction of
demand for shahtoosh are critical to conservation of the Tibetan antelope.
While the Chinese government is committed to reducing poaching of the species, the director of the Wildlife Division of the State Forestry Administration, Mr. Wang Wei, told me that reduction of demand is essential."
Concluding that "The international demand for... shahtoosh products is the most serious threat to the continued existence of the Tibetan antelope," the USFWS has commenced a review of the status of the species.
The public will have 60 days to submit appropriate data, opinions and
publications regarding the joint petition and the status of the Tibetan
antelope during the review period. The Tibetan Plateau Project will be
encouraging experts and conservation groups to provide comments in order to
assure the USFWS' full consideration of the most complete and up-to-date
information on the status of the Tibetan antelope.
Comments will be accepted from both U.S. and foreign groups and individuals, as well as foreign governments. Under Federal regulations, the agency has until October, 2000 to decide whether the petition is warranted and, if so, to publish a "proposed rule" to pursue the endangered listing.
"Public participation in the Tibetan antelope endangered species listing
process is an important component of the USFWS' review of the species," TPP
Director Justin Lowe concluded. "The Tibetan Plateau Project urges interested parties to provide the Service with comments containing new and substantive information not included in the original petition. We will work to assist individuals and organizations with submitting their comments."
Copies of the Executive Summary and the full Tibetan antelope petition are
available from the TPP website at: http://www.earthisland.org/tpp/exec_summ.htm
The USFWS decision follows the recent approval of a resolution sponsored by
China on the "Conservation of and Control of Trade in Tibetan Antelope" at the CITES Conference of the Parties meeting (April 10-20, Nairobi, Kenya). The resolution urges CITES signatories to reduce poaching and protect the Tibetan antelope, prohibit shahtoosh smuggling and processing, establish and enforce internal trade regulations, and directs the CITES Secretariat to report on its progress to investigate the trade over the next two years.
Additional Information:
- The full text of the April 25 USFWS Tibetan antelope Federal Register notice is available at:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&docid=00-10265-filed
- The public comment deadline for the Tibetan antelope status review is June 26, 2000. Comments may be sent by mail, fax or email to: Chief, Office of Scientific Authority, Mail Stop: Room 750, Arlington Square, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC 20240 USA; Fax: 703/358-2276; E-mail:
r9osa@fws.gov.
- Additional background information, including a narrative description of the Tibetan antelope and the shahtoosh trade, a Tibetan antelope fact sheet, and links to news articles dating back to 1998, is available on the Tibetan Plateau Project website at: http://www.earthisland.org/tpp/antelope.htm
- The draft text of the resolution on the "Conservation of and Control of Trade in Tibetan Antelope," (document 11.34) presented by China at the April 10-20 CITES conference, is available from: http://www.cites.org/CITES/eng/cop/11/docs/index.shtml
For more information on the Tibetan Plateau Project, please visit our website at http://www.earthisland.org/tpp/ or, contact:
Justin Lowe
Director, Tibetan Plateau Project
(415) 788-3666 x132
tppei@earthisland.org
