Silver Team Endangered Species PageJackson Creek Middle School
The Tibetan Antelope
The pant holops hodgsonii or more commonly known as the Tibetan Antelope is an endangered animal that lives in Tibet and China. It eats mainly grass and lives in the mountains. The Tibetan Antelope is being hunted for its wool, which is used to make wool shaws. The wool is some of the softest and warmest in the world, and is also high in customer demand. The only way to get the wool is by killing the animal.
Also the Tibetan Antelope only has 1 or 2 babies at once, therefore it is being killed a lot faster then it reproduces. About 20,000 are being killed a year, and only 75,000 left today. Also at the rate of killing, they could soon be extincted if something is not done.
The People's Republic of China has outlawed the killing of the Tibetan Antelope. However, they are still being hunted under ground. In order to really stop the killing, we must reduce customer demand.
Do you think that we should have the right to drive an animal to extinction because of a fashion statement? You may think the wool looks nice on people. Would it not look even nicer on the animal it came from? And what about their predators? It is whiping out one of their main food sources.
I think we should put forth an effort to save the Tibetan Antelope by not buying the wool, there by discouraging hunters from hunting them because it will not be worth it.
Links
For a Picture of the Tibetan Antelope
Silver Team Endangered Species Page
By: Lamar
Created on 2-12-03
Last Updated on 4-18-03