Because this animal is so shy and therefore impossible to shear, poachers kill three to five chiru to get 10-20 ounces (300-600 grams) of raw wool, which only produces a single shahtoosh shawl. The last count of the Chiru population was done eight years ago and from one million of them at the turn of the century their numbers in 1995 had fallen to 75,000. Experts think that the Chiru now numbers approximately 70,000 in the wild.