Office of Scientific Authority, Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by:

Tibetan Plateau Project, Earth Island Institute, 300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco, CA 94133-3312

Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460-1099

The Wildlife Conservation Society and the Tibetan Plateau Project of Earth Island Institute propose that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service list the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii) as Endangered over its entire range. The following petition regarding the Tibetan antelope is prepared and submitted pursuant to the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The Tibetan antelope (also called "chiru") is classified in the family Bovidae, subfamily Antilopinae, although based on morphological and molecular characteristics, recent research indicates the chiru is most closely allied to the goats and other members of the subfamily Caprinae.

The chiru is the only genus of large mammal endemic to the Tibetan Plateau. Its geographical range extends 1,600 km across the Plateau between the eastern limit near Ngoring Hu and the western limit in the Ladakh region of India. The species is uniquely adapted to the high elevations and dry climate of the Plateau. Wildlife biologist George Schaller estimated the total number of chiru in the entire Plateau region in the mid-1990's to be as low as 65,000-72,500.

The Tibetan antelope was listed as an Appendix II species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1975; it was moved to Appendix I in 1979. The only reservation ever held on the species was taken by Switzerland in 1979; that reservation was withdrawn in October, 1998. The chiru is listed as Vulnerable (A1c) in the 1996 International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Animals.

The chiru is listed as a Class I protected species under the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife, as a Schedule I species in the Wildlife Protection Act of India, and as an Endangered species under Schedule I of Nepal's National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act. Tibetan antelope are listed on Schedule II of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir's Wild Life Protection Act (1978) and trade in chiru products is permitted.

Populations of Tibetan antelope are dwindling principally because the species is poached for "shahtoosh," its valuable wool. Poachers kill chiru and sell the shahtoosh to international smugglers, who transport it to Jammu and Kashmir, where it is manufactured into scarves and shawls that are considered the world's most luxurious -- and expensive -- woolen products.

The status of the Tibetan antelope meets all of the criteria under the Endangered Species Act required for an Endangered listing: 1) poaching of the antelope is causing critical overutilization of the species for commercial purposes; 2) existing national and international regulatory mechanisms are inadequate to protect the species, as demonstrated by increasing chiru poaching and international trade in shahtoosh; 3) Increased resource extraction, rangeland use, settlement and human-chiru conflict in Tibetan antelope habitat may lead to the adverse modification, curtailment and destruction of the chiru's range if present trends continue; 4) As populations decline, natural processes, such as disease, will begin to have a greater impact on smaller, more fragmented populations of chiru, and; 5) while Tibetan antelope populations are vulnerable to periodic snowstorms of catastrophic proportions, and have been for millennia, such catastrophic mortality may reduce the long-term persistence of a species that is in such precipitous decline.

The Tibetan Plateau Project and the Wildlife Conservation Society believe that the enclosed petition contains substantial information warranting an Endangered listing of the Tibetan antelope throughout its range in China and India under the ESA. 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. 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.

The full USFWS Tibetan antelope petition contains sections on:

• Classification and Nomenclature
• Present Regulatory Status
• Species Description
• Geographical Distribution
• Environment and Habitat Description
• Population Biology
• Management Practices
• Evidence of Threats to Survival
• Conservation Recommendations
• Notes
• Literature Citations

Download the full Endangered Species petition in PDF format

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