both species of chinchilla are currently listed as endangered by the iucn red list of threatened species because of large population loss roughly at a 90% global population loss over the last 15 years. the population decrease has been caused by chinchilla hunting by humans. until 1996, they were listed as indeterminate on the iucn red list. in 2006, the subspecies was listed as "vulnerable" while the short-tailed subspecies was listed as "critically endangered". by 2008, both were listed as "critically endangered", and in 2016 they were reclassified as "endangered" due to some recovery in some areas.