USA, May 30, 2001 (Reuters)

NEWARK, N.J. - A Los Angeles fashion boutique agreed yesterday to pay a $175,000 fine for importing and selling Shahtoosh shawls made from the wool of the chiru, an endangered Tibetan antelope.

The shawls, prized by the fashion elite for their luxurious wool, are woven by a secret Kashmiri technique and sell for several thousand dollars each.

The agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office settled government allegations that Maxfield Enterprises, Inc. and its owner, Thomas Perse, imported and sold several of the shawls between 1994 and 1996, violating federal laws including the Endangered Species Act.

Under the agreement, Maxfield's will also place public service advertisements in either Harper's Bazaar or Vanity Fair magazine describing the plight of the chiru.

The retailer, located on trendy fashion strip Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, said it had believed the shawls were made from the wool of the ibex goat, a common misperception.

The United States and 142 other nations have outlawed sales of the shawls, but Tibetan and Chinese gangs continue to poach the 109,000-square-mile Chang Tang Preserve in the Himalayas where the antelope lives, feeding a black market. Since 1990 the animal's numbers have dwindled from an estimated 1 million to a current 75,000.

"Greed and indifference continue to fuel the trade for this endangered animal," assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Chagares told Reuters.

The case is part of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service into illegal imports and sales of the shawls. In a criminal case last July, a New Jersey woman, a Hong Kong resident and an India-based export company pleaded guilty to illegally trading in the shawls.

(Copyright Reuters Limited 2001)

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