Endangered Snow Leopards are now Victims of Cashmere Trade in Western Markets

Snow leopards, wild yaks and some of the other rare mammals that once roamed on the lands of Tibet, China and Mongolia are becoming victims of fashion due to the growing cashmere trade in the western markets that threatens the ecosystem.

According to the Wildlife Conversation Society, these charismatic animals are being edged out due to the surge in the global cashmere trade as pastoralists expand the goat herds to double profits for the cashmere trade.

In the last 20 years the populations of the domestic goat had tripled just to feed the growing demand of the cashmere. Due to the increase in the goat population certain wildlife icons from the Tibetan Plateau to Mongolia suffer that includes snow leopard, chiru, saiga, gazelles, Bactrian camel and other remarkable endangered species from the remote lands of Central Asia.

"The consequences are dramatic and negative for iconic species that governments have signed legislation to protect, yet the wildlife is continually being squeezed into a no-win situation," says lead author, Joel Berger, a biologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society and professor at University of Montana. "Herders are doing what we would do - just trying to improve their livelihoods, and who can blame them?" 

There is a great demand for cashmere from the western consumers. These domestic goats that are dominating in most of the region, produce a high quality fiber that converts into cashmere on being processed.

Nearly 90 percent of the global cashmere originates from China and Mongolia. These vast highlands that were once thickly populated with wild camel, wild yak, snow leopard and a few others are now being dominated by domestic goats.

 With this study the conservationists intend to spread awareness among the western consumers about the origin of cashmere and the unintended impact it poses on a few charismatic animals in the Central Asia steppes.

"By improving our understanding of the relationship between indigenous herders, local ecology and global markets, we can implement policies at the national and international level", said the Snow Leopard Trust's Charudutt Mishra.

It is not just the growing number of domestic goat that is threatening the snow leopard population but there has been a rise in retaliatory killing of snow leopard by humans who do so to protect their herds, source French Tribune.

The cashmere trade has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry with countries likes UK being in the list of the top four importers of cashmere,. The number of domestic goats in Mongolia alone increased from 5 million in 1990 to 14 million in 2010, reports Guardian.

The study was supported by the Snow Leopard Trust, Trust for Mutual Understanding, National Geographic Society, Whitley Fund for Nature, and the British Broadcasting Company Wildlife Fund.