Thursday, 25 July 2013

Cashmere trade threat to snow leopards

The global demand for cashmere is threatening endangered snow leopards, according to a new report.
Domestic cashmere goats in parts of Central Asia have almost tripled in the last 20 years to fuel cashmere demand.
The goats are encroaching on the natural habitats of the snow leopard and their natural prey.
The authors of the paper, published in Conservation Biology, say that other endangered animals are also at risk.
These include herbivores which compete for the same resources as the goats, such as the antelope Saiga tatarica, the Tibetan chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii) and the Himalayan bharal (Pseudois nayaur) also known as the blue sheep.

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