The French political and military leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, once warned that “China is a sleeping giant that, if awakened, will shake the world,” but many probably did not expect that the extent of his saying would exceed all reasonable political and economic limits, and thus the expected “Chinese awakening” would develop into a creeping and transitory consumption pattern. Borders come on green and dry.

One of the bleak images of this “savage” Chinese style of consumption is the depletion of donkeys, which have always been an integral part of the scene in developing countries in Africa and Asia, due to allegations that their skins contain a substance with medicinal properties called “Ejiao”, from which China alone produces 5 thousands of tons annually.

The number of donkeys in the world is estimated at 44 million, but their numbers have witnessed a remarkable decline during the last decade due to the large Chinese demand for ejiao.

And this is not the only time that the Chinese glutton causes a huge decrease in the number of some species of animals, as the Chinese’s fondness for ivory, for example, African elephants, caused a very large decrease in their number.

China is the most prominent consumer market for ejiao, as it needs more than 10 million donkeys annually to meet the demand in its multi-million dollar market, while the global supply is limited to only 1.8 million, according to statistics from The Donkey Sanctuary. ) British.

"magic" remedy

Although the therapeutic properties of ejiao have not been scientifically proven;

Chinese traditional medicine considers it a "magic cure" with properties similar to those attributed to rhino horn, most notably improving blood circulation, slowing aging, stimulating sexual desire and increasing fertility.

It is served in the form of a drink or with nuts as an aperitif, and while it was once reserved for emperors, it is now in high demand from the middle class in China.

In Chinese "donkey slaughterhouses", workers kill the animal and then skin it before dumping its carcass in the garbage or burning it. As for the skin, the skin is used after cutting it and extracting gelatin from it.

"These animals are killed in a very brutal way with hammer blows to the head or stabs of a knife, a situation similar to what happens in the level of rhino smuggling," says Kapilo Nkoan, from the Donkey Protection Unit in South Africa's Highfield region.

Workers in a donkey slaughterhouse in Kenya (French)

insatiable ejiao

Because of the sharp decline in the number of donkeys inside China, which has fallen by nearly half over the last decade due to excessive consumption;

The Chinese Dragon turned to satiate his craving for ejiao towards the African continent.

A report by the American newspaper "The New York Times" in 2018 stated that thousands of donkeys are stolen annually from Africa to skin them and extract the ejiao preparation from their skins, which caused a rise in its market value, pointing to the occurrence of many incidents of theft of donkeys, including the theft of a thousand donkeys. In just 3 months in Kenya in 2017.

National Geographic also reported - in a report - that hundreds of African donkeys are waiting in slaughterhouses to be slaughtered, which the site said is one of the "worst brutal scenes" against animals at all, stressing that the smuggling of donkeys illegally It continues in many countries of the continent.

robberies

Kenya is the main hub for the donkey hide trade in Africa, with the country exporting up to 160,000 donkeys every year, according to the international organization Brooke Action for Horses and donkeys.

Although this country decided in 2020 to ban the slaughter of donkeys intended for use in Chinese medicine, the authorities noticed an increase in thefts;

This has resulted in great harm to its farmers and widespread unemployment.

Through its monitoring and investigation activities outside Kenya, the organization confirms that donkey skins are also traded through other African countries, from Ethiopia in the east to Senegal in the west.

Ejiao is extracted from the gelatin found in donkey skins after boiling according to traditional Chinese medicine (Reuters)

heinous crimes

In the Arab region, Egypt increased its exports of donkey skins in 2018, and the increase in demand for it caused dozens of abuses and heinous crimes by smugglers who are obsessed with getting rich quickly.

In June 2021, the Egyptian security forces arrested a farmer in Menoufia governorate for brutally skinning 10 donkeys, after they were found dead without their skins in a watercourse.

In July 2020, the General Administration of Customs at Dekheila Port in Alexandria thwarted an attempt to smuggle 1,000 pieces of donkey skins, which are prohibited to be exported by virtue of a decision of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and customs, import and export laws.

In April of the same year, Hong Kong customs officials seized 16 tons of donkey skins and 500 kilograms of sea cucumbers, from a smuggled consignment worth 187,000 dollars sourced from Egypt.

Dina Zulficar, an animal rights activist, asserts that "Egypt officially exports 8,000 donkey skins to China, while many times that number is smuggled unofficially through containers, until it became the second largest country smuggling donkey skins to China, while this animal is vulnerable to extinction locally. ".

She explains that this has negative effects on the economic level, especially on the agricultural level, noting that countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal have stopped its export, "while the Chinese international stock exchange estimates the price of one donkey skin at $473, the whole donkey is sold in Egypt at $117." .

The Scientific Committee of the General Authority for Veterinary Services in Egypt had approved the export of live Egyptian donkeys to China to limit violations of their slaughter and circulation of their meat inside the country, after the Fatwa House that it is not permissible to slaughter and trade donkey meat in Islamic countries.

Because of the increased demand;

Some exporters changed their activity to exporting donkey skins, and some companies decided to specialize in exporting live donkeys abroad, and concluded export deals with Asian companies.

Strict measures

In South Africa - where donkey numbers are declining as a result of illegal hunting - the authorities decided last June to tighten protection measures to prevent them from being smuggled into China.

This African country officially exports 10,500 donkey skins annually to Hong Kong and China, but the actual quantities exported to these two countries are much higher in the presence of an illegal market.

In 2015, the South African authorities confiscated about 3,000 donkey skins suspected of being destined for smuggling operations, with a total value of more than $300,000, and since the beginning of this year, two illegal shipments of skins have been confiscated.

In light of the growing fears of the extinction of donkeys due to the increasing exploitation, some African countries such as Kenya, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Tanzania, Niger, Mali and Senegal have taken measures to ban their slaughter or export of their hides, and raised their export tax to China.

While other countries have taken a completely different path, as official government data indicates that Pakistan, for example, is looking to abolish the ban it imposed on this trade.

In Brazil, the authorities opened the door wide to the trade in donkey skins since 2017.