Latest news with #ejiao
Khaleej Times
20 hours ago
- Health
- Khaleej Times
Six million donkeys slaughtered annually for Chinese medicine
Almost six million donkeys are slaughtered annually for Chinese medicine, with severe knock-on effects for African villagers who rely on the animals, a UK-based charity said on Thursday. It is driven by an increase in China's production of ejiao -- a product marketed as a health supplement that uses collagen from donkey skins -- which is a $6.8-billion industry, according to China-based research firm Qianzhan. China, whose donkey population has plummeted from 11 million in 1992 to 1.5 million in 2023, has turned to Africa to meet its demand. With donkey populations falling, the African Union issued a 15-year moratorium on donkey slaughter last year. UK-based charity The Donkey Sanctuary said "the ejiao industry drives a massive global trade in donkey skins, much of it illegal". It said around 5.9 million donkeys were killed worldwide last year. The ejiao trade is expected to require at least 6.8 million donkey skins by 2027. The rising value of donkeys means they have increasingly become targets for criminals. "Traders exploit vulnerable people using large and sophisticated networks of agents to pressure donkey owners into selling their animals," the charity said. "Illegal networks operate across the continent, often without consequence, stealing and slaughtering donkeys in the night," it added. "Donkeys die in often unregulated, inhumane, and unsanitary conditions, and large numbers perish on their way to slaughterhouses," it continued. The impact on humans is particularly felt by women and children, who rely on donkeys for farming activities such as ploughing and for carrying goods to market. The criminal operations also generated health risks, The Donkey Sanctuary said. "The transportation of untreated skins and improper disposal of donkey carcasses risk triggering the spread of infectious diseases and damaging local ecosystems."
The Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on China, Africa and disappearing donkeys: an unexpected crisis offers a clue to perils ahead
What can help to protect women's health, boost the incomes of impoverished families and thus allow girls to avoid early marriage? What – when it disappears – can set back children's education, damage mental wellbeing, drive conflict within communities and become a vector for racial hatred? The humble donkey has rarely been in the spotlight. Yet Chinese demand for its skin proved so destabilising that African governments agreed to a continent-wide ban on the slaughter of the animal for its hide last year. This week, officials are meeting in Ivory Coast to discuss implementation. A recent paper by Dr Lauren Johnston of the University of Sydney outlines the extraordinary rise and fall of the Sino-African trade in donkey skins, and its repercussions. Ejiao – donkey hide gelatine – was first developed around 3,000 years ago and is used in traditional Chinese medicine, and more recently in beauty products. Longstanding demand was supercharged by growing prosperity and media influence, reportedly surging after characters in a popular Chinese TV period drama, Empresses in the Palace, were shown taking it. But while production of ejiao had been industrialised, a problem soon emerged: donkeys are notably hard to breed. Ejiao consumption equates to 4m to 5m hides per year, equivalent to almost a tenth of the global donkey population. China's stock of animals plummeted from 11 million in the early 1990s to just 2 million – and attention turned to African hides. The continent is home to almost two-thirds of the world's 53 million donkeys. Their use as beasts of burden there dates back even further than the invention of ejiao; owners describe them as priceless. Despite governments' attempts to regulate the trade in hides, there were repeated complaints not only of inhumane treatment but also crime; on one estimate, as many as a third of the exported hides were stolen. Families woke to find their animals had vanished, or been slaughtered and skinned on the spot. Many could not afford to replace them, because the price of new animals had soared. Without the creatures, women are often forced to carry heavy loads of firewood or water; children may be kept home to help with chores; families can no longer rent donkeys to neighbours, reducing their incomes. Former owners reported reduced wellbeing and increased stress. Some suspected their neighbours of stealing their donkeys, and in South Africa, online posts about Chinese gangs involved in the illicit trade attracted comments inciting racial hatred. The African Union ban may tackle some of these problems. But it may also be shifting them. In Pakistan, the price of the animals has rocketed. The case of the missing donkeys may sound like a niche concern but is really a particular instance of a pressing global issue. Oil and minerals may get the attention, but growing competition for resources – driven by increasing prosperity in economies such as China and India and the pace of consumer culture – can pop up in unexpected areas, hit the poorest hardest and create new diplomatic, social and economic tensions. Addressing such cases will take not only determination but ingenuity and a willingness to work with unlikely allies: Africa's ban was driven by a coalition of farmers, animal rights campaigners, economists, gender activists, religious leaders and others. It will also need to be done at speed. The donkey shock is not a one-off, but a warning of other potential flashpoints ahead. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
