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‘Shahtoosh’ is the name given to wool derived from the chiru. The fabric woven from this wool carries the same name and is worn by the fashionable worldwide. The chiru's natural habitat is Tibet - with populations ranging into Ladakh. Nature has provided it with a two-layered fur, to give it the warmth that it requires for survival. The visible coat is the second coat and is coarse. The short, fine haired under layer hugs the chiru’s skin. Shahtoosh is derived from the undercoat.

International trade in shahtoosh has been prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) since 1979. Domestic trade is also banned within many countries, including China and India. The notable exception is the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is where chiru wool is woven into shahtoosh shawls and scarves. It has been documented trade routes from the Tibetan Plateau to Kashmir and on to upscale consumers worldwide.

Once we know that shahtoosh is derived from an untamed animal, which roams wild on the Tibetan plateau desert, it takes little imagination to realise how this wool is harvested.

Technological societies of the 20th century offer huge discretionary incomes to growing numbers. With the growth of wealth, advanced communication, and travel, little known products from remote parts gained currency worldwide. The needs of the wealthy changed to embrace products like shahtoosh shawls and scarves. As a result, where an estimated 1,000,000 animals roamed in the Tibetan Plateau in the earlier part of the last century, current estimates of the chiru population range between 50,000 and 75,000. Chinese government sources state that approx. 20,000 animals are butchered every year. As many as three chirus are gruesomely slaughtered to stitch together one shahtoosh shawl.

Traditionally, the animal is trapped prior to killing. However, with today’s increasing demand, contemporary poachers have devised innovative, cost and time effective ways to kill. At night, they shine bright lights at whole resting herds. The innocent animal, baffled by this new experience freezes, and thereby signs it’s own death warrant. The poachers let loose their automatic weapons at these sitting targets.

Since the master weavers are based in Kashmir the wool moves from Tibet (sometimes via Nepal) to India. The shawl is woven in Jammu & Kashmir and then smuggled to international markets across the world and also sold clandestinely in the domestic market.

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