Another story of the Chinese penchant for bizarre foodstuffs: African donkeys are being stolen and butchered for their hides to meet the increasing demand for "ejiao", which is essentially gelatin boiled from hide [photo credit: AP]. Fifteen years ago, ejiao sold for $9 per pound in China; now, it fetches around $400 per pound. China's own donkey population has plummeted in recent years from around 11 million, the world's largest, to six million or just three million by some estimates. So Chinese companies have resorted to importing donkey hides from developing nations.
The product has been around for centuries, but renewed popularity began in 2010. According to a report by a UK non-profit about 1.8 donkeys are slaughtered world wide to meet the growing demand. Africa has become the favored region of Chinese resource exploitation, probably due to the continent's abundance and relatively lax law enforcement. Donkeys may become the next pangolin {27.03.13} since the Chinese are willing to pay a high price for donkey hide. Prices are fifty times higher than in 2014.
African donkeys are disappearing from under their owners' eyes, as procurers roam the country side looking for hide to buy. The New York Times published a story about a poor Nairobi porter who lost five donkeys in a short span of time to skinners. Thieves entered his small property, slit the animals' throats, and skinned them from the neck down on the bloody spot. They left the meat for the vultures and hyenas. All Mr. Njeru has left of his livelihood is a hoof he keeps as a memento. In neighboring Tanzania, residents of the village of Esilalei lost nearly 475 donkeys in a single year. About 175 were recovered by police who tracked the thieves into the bush, but the rest were lost to slaughterhouses. Tanzania joined fourteen other African countries to ban the trade in donkey hides. Kenya's trade is still legal and shows no sign of slowing. The country has three abattoirs, all of them owned by Chinese concerns; rumor has it that a fourth will soon be opening for business. The largest, Goldox Donkey, claims to process 450 animals a day. [photo: American burros living in Custer State Park, SD]Donkeys bear many of man's burdens without complaint, but the trade in their hides is unsustainable, thus the resort to theft to meet the demand. Donkeys are not cattle; they do not adapt well to intensive breeding programs. Unhealthy waste disposal has become an issue for residents who live near abattoirs. Cruelty complaints have also been filed against the slaughterhouses--animals often arrive in unmentionable condition, and are treated unmercifully--but the government is loath to act because the industry is lucrative, provides employment, and pays taxes.