SPECIES STORIES - Wildlife Conservation in China: Preserving the Habitat of China's Wild West - page 142

enous NGOs such as the Wild Yak Brigade, the Green River Society, the Upper Yangtze
Conservation and Development Organization, and the Snowland Great Rivers Environ-
mental Protection Association began setting up externally funded patrols and stations. 70
A proposal was submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that, in addition to its
existing status as an Appendix I species under CITES, the chiru be listed as endangered
under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. 71 Books and newspaper articles began appearing
in China, popularizing the species both in myth and reality. 72 In spring 2005, the chiru
was even nominated as one of only six candidates to be the official mascot of the 2008
Olympic games to be held in Beijing—a distinction that may appear unimportant from
abroad, but from all appearances, was taken very seriously within China. 73 A scientific
survey of chiru calving grounds in summer 2005 was accompanied by no less than four
TV film crews, all intent on cashing in on the new publicity allotted to the species. 74 In
sum, although it took some time in coming, the chiru went from relative obscurity to
celebrity status in the span of about a decade.
By the early 2000s, there were signs that poaching was beginning to abate, and the
chiru population was responding. Although reports of increased arrests could always be
read with contradictory interpretations, the increased enforcement efforts were no doubt
real. In at least one area, the Qiangtang reserve, the chiru population was documented to
have increased; additional surveys in western Qinghai documented large herds, suggest-
ing that at least the nucleus for a population recovery still existed. 75
Three notable characteristics in the chiru story are worth emphasizing. First, unlike
most other wildlife conservation issues in western China, the task of saving chiru is
relatively simple. That is not to say that it is easy. Indeed, given the economic incentives
involved, reducing poaching to a level that can be sustained by the wild chiru population
will require a great deal of effort. But here, for once, the Chinese inclination to focus
on protecting animals from bullets (and doing little else) is basically sound. There are
exceptions, of course. The probable isolation of chiru herds that historically migrated east
of the Golmud-Lhasa highway (and now railway) from west of it, with the danger that
poses both for normal foraging and for long-term genetic health, stands out as notable.
But neither habitat quantity nor quality is a major issue for chiru. 76 Reduce poaching to
a low enough level and chiru will respond.
Second, ironic as it is in light of the tremendous publicity given the species within
China, the decline of the chiru is really not China's fault. One can hardly think of any-
thing positive the Chinese did for chiru prior to the 1990s, but there was also little need.
Subsistence hunting by Tibetans had existed for centuries without seriously threatening
the population. Shahtoosh shawls as fashion accessories had never become popular in
China. Rather, the impetus for the dramatic surge in poaching came from abroad. Just
as it will be difficult to eradicate drug production and smuggling in poor countries as
long as drug addicts in rich ones demand the product, chiru poaching will be difficult to
control as long as wealthy foreigners are willing to pay for shahtoosh. Would-be Western
doctors wishing to fix China's wildlife conservation system must, in this instance, first
heal themselves.
Finally, unlike the case of some other species with consumptive, material value, chiru