Supposedly it all started with the Chinese TV series "Empresses in the Palace".

In it, the aristocrats consume traditional Chinese medicine called Ejiao, which is made from donkey skin.

Ejiao is considered a "miracle cure" in China, but causes "unspeakable suffering and the cruel death of thousands of donkeys," writes the Welttierschutzgesellschaft eV how to form into blocks of chocolate.

This tradition is said to have both medicinal and cosmetic effects.

Simon Pope, who works for UK charity Donkey Sanctuary, said in a recent report by Voice of America (VOA) that demand for Ejiao has skyrocketed since 2011, when the series first aired.

"The problem was that China just doesn't have enough donkeys to meet the demand," Pope told the media.

Therefore, the market makes use of the donkeys, which are used as pack animals in Zimbabwe, Mali and Tanzania.

The locals didn't want to sell their animals.

Shortly afterwards, thefts began.

Farmers in Africa reported finding their animals slaughtered and skinned in the field.

They will probably be stunned with hammers or have their throats cut.

Sometimes they are still alive when skinned.

Tanzania last month banned the slaughter of donkeys for the fur trade.

The donkey population there is threatened with extinction.

Other African countries, including Nigeria, have also banned the slaughter of donkeys or the export of the animals.

For smallholders, greed for donkey skins is an existential threat.

$1000 for a donkey in China

So far, pangolins, rhino horn and elephant tusks have been the focus of poachers, but the less dangerous animals are also affected.

Donkey populations are declining.

A recent study by researchers at the University of South Africa shows that the donkey population has dwindled from 210,000 in 1996 to about 146,000 in 2019.

South Africa legally exports about 10,500 donkey skins to China each year, but the actual amount is believed to be much higher as smugglers have tapped into the trade.

The smugglers are also said to use the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho to bring the goods to China from there.

The mass theft means that prices are rising - both in Africa and in China.

Insiders say a donkey in South Africa fetched $30 at auction five years ago and is now $125.

In China, a donkey is said to be worth more than $1,000.

The market for donkeys is huge: around five million donkeys are in demand in China every year.

Two million of these are said to come from the country itself, and China obtains the rest from abroad.