A Kashmiri shahtoosh shawl weaver holds a placard which reads "save the shahtoosh industry, revoke the ban on shahtoosh" during a protest demonstration against the recent ban on shahtoosh in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir on July 3. Hundreds of shahtoosh manufacturers and weavers on Monday staged a protest against the ban on industry. Recently Jammu and Kashmir state imposed a ban on controversial shahtoosh, a wool derived from the hair of an endangered Tibetan antelope, the chiru. Environmentalists say chiru are shot and skinned for their hair in remote areas of Tibet but the traders say the antelope shed their wool naturally by rubbing themselves against shrubs and rocks in summer.

FK/CC