Half of the world's donkeys are in danger of disappearing due to the high slaughter rate in response to the growing demand for Chinese medicine, The Guardian reported.
Chinese manufacturers need 4.8 million donkey skins a year to produce a drug called ejiao, which is used to treat conditions such as insomnia, headaches and coughs.
The UK's Donkey Sanchowari warned that the current pace of demand would halve the number of donkeys in the world in five years, having already fallen in Brazil by 28 percent since 2007 and by 37 percent in Botswana. And 53 percent in Kyrgyzstan.
Many donkeys are stolen from communities they rely on in their daily work for the trade, and are transported on long journeys without food or water, resulting in up to 20 percent deaths during transportation and donkeys are often withdrawn, the organization said. Of her ears and tails.