Forest department seizes Shahtoosh shawls, initiates probe after three held

kolkata: The wildlife crime control cell of the state Forest department is investigating a recent case of a huge seizure of shawls that on examination has emerged to be Shahtoosh shawls - a banned item and its possession and sale being illegal.

It is for the first time ever when the Forest department has stumbled upon Shahtoosh shawls and is not ruling out involvement of an international racket in the trade.

Shahtoosh is a fine type of wool made from the hair of Tibetan antelope or Chiru goat which is found in microscopic number only in Ladakh in India.

"We had received a specimen of 16 shawls out of a total number of 296 for examination in our state of the art laboratory to identify their types as the Forest department had the impression that they were Shahtoosh shawls. Their assumption emerged to be true and all the samples were of Shahtoosh. We have submitted our findings to the Forest department," a senior scientist of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) said.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) now classifies this antelope as Near Threatened. Less than 75000 species

survive in the wild down from a million some 50 years ago with aggressive hunting and skinning by the poachers. The antelope is provided protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Prevention) Act.

The international trade is regulated in all countries including India that have signed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The weaving of these shawls still continue secretly in Kashmir due to high demand among western buyers. A senior official of the state Forest department said that three persons were arrested at the time of seizure of the shawls from an area adjacent to Bidhannagar. They are presently out on bail.

"We are pursuing the case very seriously as we are not ruling out the involvement of a big racket in connection with the seizure," Debal Roy, state Chief Wildlife Warden said.