Chinese donkey skin trade threatens species in Africa
ADDIS ABABA: Ejiao used to be a medicine reserved for Chinese royalty. The expensive pill or tonic made from the gelatin in donkey skins is believed to be an aphrodisiac, prevent ageing and heal insomnia.
With the increase in the Chinese middle class, more expendable income and online marketing, the demand for ejiao has increased.
A minimum of 1.8 million donkey skins are traded a year, but annual demand in China could be as high as 10 million, says the international animal welfare organisation Donkey Sanctuary.
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As donkey numbers in China almost halved to about six million over the past 25 years, China cast its eyes on Africa. The continent has about a quarter of the world’s donkey population, or 11 million animals, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Chinese firms set up slaughterhouses across Africa, in which thousands of donkeys are killed each day.
Many African nations hope to boost their struggling economies through the trade. A kilogram of ejiao sells for up to $375 (R5 000), Donkey Sanctuary chief executive Mike Baker said.
Kenya, for example, opened two abattoirs north-west of the capital, Nairobi, last year, where according to media reports more than 200 animals are killed a day.
South Africa also wants to export donkey skins to China, hoping to create a new income source for farmers in its poverty-stricken North West province, Patrick Leteane, director general at the provincial Department of Agriculture, told news website News24.
In addition, donkeys are killed illegally in many countries to meet China’s growing demand, including in South Africa, Egypt and Tanzania, says the Donkey Sanctuary.
“Donkeys are being rounded up, stolen, then transported and brutally slaughtered for their skins,” the South African National Council of SPCAS said, describing the trade as horrific.
Animal rights activists warn the high demand will decimate donkey populations. Attempts to farm the animals have been unsuccessful due to their low fertility rates.
The cost of donkeys has shot up due to increasing demand, threatening the livelihoods of poor communities who rely on the animals to help with heavy farm work.
“The demand for skins is relentless. Communities risk being impoverished and losing their independence,” warned Baker.
Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Ethiopia have banned exports of donkey hide to protect rural livelihoods. Niger issued the ban in September after government figures showed that 80 000 animals were sold in the first nine months of last year, up from 27 000 in 2015. A month earlier, Burkina Faso took the same step, after 45 000 donkeys were slaughtered in six months.
“If this trend continues, there will be no donkeys left in Burkina Faso by 2020,” animal resources minister Soumanogo Koutou said.
The latest nation to place animal protection before profits is Ethiopia, which according to FAO, has the world’s largest donkey population – eight million.
Shandong Dong-e, China’s largest ejiao producer, on Sunday received orders to stop operations at its abattoir in Bishoftu, a town 40km south of the capital, Addis Ababa.
At least 100 donkeys were slaughtered there each day, managing director Aklilu Tefera said. The skins were shipped to China and the meat exported to Vietnam.
The Bishoftu community, which had launched a social media campaign against Shandong Dong-e, welcomed the ban.
“Nobody wanted this abattoir to be here,” said resident Adugna Sida, 53. “(Slaughtering donkeys) is against our culture.”
In Ethiopia and most other African nations, eating donkey meat is a cultural taboo.
Shandong Dong-e, which according to Tefera invested €5m (R76m) when it opened the abattoir two years ago, is furious. Plans to open a second slaughterhouse, a breeding facility and an ejiao production plant had to be put on ice.
“We will consider a court ruling,” Tefera said. – dpa