The number of Tibetan antelope in a remote region of northwest China has tripled to 60,000 in 10 years thanks to a crackdown on illegal hunting, according to a report on a government website yesterday.

Tibetan antelope, or chiru, are listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union because of commercial poaching for their under wool, called shahtoosh. The wool, known as "soft gold", has fuelled a growing black market trade in India, Nepal and several western cities since the late 1980s.

Environmentalists say five antelope are killed to make a 2-m shawl, which weighs only 150 to 170 g and is so fine it can be passed through a wedding ring.

"Breeding is increasing in Kekexili due to the improvement of the environment and the fight against illegal hunting," Cai Ga, director of the vast Kekexili Natural Reserve in Qinghai province, was quoted as saying on the website of the State Forestry Administration.

In 2006, the authorities built more than 30 underpasses along the new Qinghai-Tibet railway, which bisects the animals' feeding grounds.

In February, an award-winning photographer, Liu Weiqiang, admitted he had faked a photo showing more than 20 Tibetan antelope roaming peacefully under a railway bridge as a train roared overhead.

The antelope live above the tree line at an altitude of more than 4,300 m.

"Its natural environment is one of harsh bitter winds, -40 C in the winter, with occasional snowstorms even during the short summers," according to the Save the Chiru website (www.kekexili.com)

(Agencies via China Daily April 22, 2008)