Silent donkey holocaust
China’s insatiable need for meat, skins decimating SA herds
Namibia, Botswana, Tanzania and Kenya have government-condoned trade in donkey products
Burkina Faso, Niger and Pakistan have banned the export of donkey hides. In Burkina Faso, the cost of a hide soared from £60 to £108 between 2014 and last year
In Brazil donkeys are transported 1 000km for slaughter, suggesting a valuable trade, say donkey experts. imum order” for a 6m container.
Far-flung communities in developing countries carry the heaviest burden. “Rural villagers from Africa to South America have had their donkeys stolen, slaughtered and skinned overnight – impoverishing them in an instant and possibly changing their lives forever,” says the report.
Donkeys, everywhere, are no longer safe, says Jonno Sherwin, the founder of the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary, near Prince Albert. “I’ve been with people this week in Limpopo whose donkeys were stolen, or forcibly sold to middlemen involved in the skin trade.
“So many of these farmers literally break down in tears. Their livelihoods are shattered because it’s the donkeys which take their children to school, carry firewood and help them fetch water.
“Sometimes, donkey men rent It’s legal to export donkey hides from South Africa but only if the donkey was first sold by the legitimate owner, says the NPA. The only legal way to slaughter a donkey to obtain its skin for export is via a registered abattoir. There are only three legally registered equine abattoirs. out 10 or 15. Now, they’re literally stolen in the night, slaughtered in the bush and skinned.”
Like other donkey champions, Sherwin believes a silent donkey holocaust is unfolding.
“Rural areas that formerly relied on donkeys as an integral part of their cultural heritage are now seeing them decimated. If they sell them for R500, it’s short-term gain but long-term defeat. But for many, what’s the alternative? Their animals will be stolen anyway.”
Experts have called on countries to halt the exports until the impact of the trade can be studied and shown to be humane for donkeys and sustainable for the communities that need them.
But this week, North West government officials were wooing communities in Mafikeng and Ganyesa to join its provincial donkey production programme.
The global surge in donkey hide demand has given the beasts of burden a new role: as “an agricultural commodity”, they say.
With its Chinese partner, Juzi Technology, it wants to “exploit” the trade, by establishing donkey feedlots and an abattoir to commercial trade in meat and hides. This will help create jobs and alleviate poverty, the government says.
“We’re first looking at mobilising those willing to participate and then getting our colleagues in China to provide more information about how to keep donkeys, farm with them and trade,” says Patrick Leteane, the chief director for rural development.
“We want to start with 500 donkeys. We’re working with the police and animal welfare groups because their concerns are valid.
“There is a lot of interest in our communities. This is about enlightening them. In other countries, donkeys were killed to the point where they nearly became extinct. We don’t want that… This is about sustainable use.”
But the project has its ardent critics, like Sherwin.
“Donkeys are gregarious animals, which build family bonds. They’re highly intelligent and sentient. The commercialisation of this trade is atrocious.
“Look at Burkino Faso and Niger, countries seemingly less sophisticated than ours. But yet they have had an outright ban on this donkey trade to protect rural farmers, who have suffered most, but ours is saying let’s rather run with the growth curve here.”
Like others, he argues no feasibility or sustainability studies have been conducted to assess the longterm viability of the commercial farming of a new species of domesticated livestock.
“Donkeys have never been farmed for any by-product in South Africa. It’s a massive step, taking a new domesticated species for commercial gain.
“We’d advocate the government impose an immediate ban on the export of donkey hides. Then, do your studies. The theft is illegal and the illegal slaughter is illegal, but the trade is permissible.”
“There’s no formal documentation to insist donkey hides must be declared. So, let’s say the price of a donkey is R300, when that skin reaches China, it’s worth R7 000. If you have 5 000 skins, you have R35 million cargo. This is why our government is getting greedy.”
Ashley Ness, an inspector at the Highveld Horse Care Unit, points out that it would take more than 2 years for a donkey to “have a skin of a viable size”.
Donkeys take a year to give birth and foals needs to stay with their mothers for at least 6 months.
“The problem is our donkey population is so depleted already with all this illegal trade, that it’s actually frightening,” says Ness, who has monitored the vast local skin and meat trade for more than three years.
“These guys buy all the 200 donkeys in a remote village in Limpopo and slaughter them inhumanely.”
At auctions, the prices have soared, too. A few years ago, experts say, donkeys sold for R500 each – now it’s over R2 000.
Grace de Lange, who heads the farm animal unit at the NSPCA, says more needs to be done.
“There have been some convictions… but we’re still not getting the big guys. What is the government doing?”
This week, the NPA stated that with the police, it is “committed to take drastic action to eradicate the unlawful stealing and slaughter of donkeys for their hides”.
Africa’s growth, propelled by the Chinese economy, means its huge donkey population is a key target, says the report.
“Chinese trade negotiations have provided legitimate and financially attractive routes for the trade of donkey products, often with significant incomes for governments, middlemen and the powerful elite.”