How does the demand for the luxury wool sheared from goats in Central Asia harm the snow leopards?
The snow leopard is an endangered species due, among other things, to wild poaching driven by the demand for fur, body parts and bones for traditional medicine purposes. Added to this in recent years is the demand for cashmere wool, which causes damage not only to the rare predator but also to many other species.
Conservation Biology Describes the damage: the fine and sought-after wool grows on Kashmiri goats. In the last 20 years, the demand for wool has tripled, which has resulted in the growth of goat herds on a double and multiple scale. Only in Mongolia the number of goats tripled from about 5 million in 1990 to about 15 million in 2010.
Shepherds from India and China raise Kashmiri goats in the Tibetan Plateau region. Cashmere wool is an important source of livelihood and livelihood for many residents of Central Asia. The shepherds' attempt to improve their lives by increasing the herds causes damage to the natural environment. The herds of goats invade the natural living space of the snow leopard and destroy the vegetable that was supposed to be the food of animals that are the natural prey of the tigers.
The goats "compete" with antelopes such as the saiga Saiga tatarica, the chiro Pantholops hodgsonii, the Bahar Pseudois nayaur and others. Of course, when the natural prey of the snow leopards diminishes and is replaced by cashmere goats, the tigers will switch to preying on goats. Predation by goats leads to "revenge actions", i.e. shepherds who kill tigers to protect their herds.
According to the publishers of the news, "by improving the understanding of the relationship between the shepherds and the natural environment and the world market, it is possible to implement a balanced policy that will support the shepherds and at the same time allow protection of the natural environment and lead to the production of cashmere wool without harming the environment. Such wool will be labeled as green wool."
The intention is to bring together local wool producers and buyers from international markets with the aim of ensuring that all those involved in wool ensure sustainable production through proper husbandry that will allow domestic animals and wild animals to coexist side by side, and that will allow the continued existence of snow leopards.
After all, it has already been said that the time has come that instead of controlling the environment for the sake of the human population, there will be control of the human population for the sake of the environment.
One response
Interesting and to the point. Green cashmere is beautiful and can help, but only for those who will make a living from promoting green cashmere.
Man has the power of corruption and harm more than any other animal on earth. And if man does not grasp something greater than himself, he will corrupt there as well, in places where there is a hint of nature that has not been corrupted by academic man. After all, Akdem-Ya is the theological center of Protestant Christianity, which today numbers about 30.000 different and strange churches up to the edge of darkness... So Kashmir is beautiful, also the sexual relations of the goat in front of the moon is something that requires in-depth investigation according to Mr. Baloni of Akdem-Ya... .
But, a person needs to know in what way a person will put his mind in his limited time in the material world, and in particular out of an understanding that he fell into a conspiracy in which his mind was stolen in a deceitful way. that you have things that have accumulated and are not. And compared to them others who live in their death.