Animal welfare charities have welcomed an Africa-wide ban on the controversial donkey skin trade. It will make it illegal to slaughter donkeys for their skin across the continent.
Demand for the animals’ skins is fuelled by the popularity of an ancient Chinese medicine called Ejiao, traditionally made from donkey hides.
African state leaders approved the ban at the conclusion of the African Union summit in Ethiopia on Sunday.
The charity, the Donkey Sanctuary, called the the trade “brutal and unsustainable” and said it had decimated donkey populations around the world, particularly in Africa and South America. Ejiao is believed by some to have anti-ageing and health benefits, although this is unproven. Chinese companies that make it used to use skins from donkeys sourced in China. But when the numbers of the animals in the country plummeted, they looked overseas.
Dr Onyango told BBC News that the ban would “go a long way to safeguarding donkeys and the livelihoods of millions of people who rely on them”.
About two-thirds of world’s estimated population of 53 million donkeys are in Africa. People in the poorest, rural communities use them for transport and to carry water, food and other goods.
Credit: bbc.com
