India's Kashmir govt to fight ban on shahtoosh wool (Reuters via AlertNet)

Wildlife organisations say five 'chiru' antelopes are shot and skinned to get shahtoosh wool for one shawl. Scarves and shawls made from shahtoosh fetch as much as $17,000 in trendy boutiques in London and New York.

But traders in shahtoosh -- Persian for "king of wools" -- say the antelope sheds its wool naturally by rubbing itself against shrubs and rocks in summer and it is these wisps of shahtoosh that are collected in the remote Himalayan plateau.

The shahtoosh trade has plumetted in recent years due to an international ban on the wool.

The J&K government is trying to reverse the ban.