Chinese demand for Donkey skins is putting pressure on African herds and the livelihoods of families that rely on the animals to carry water, crops and firewood, RFI reported on Sunday.
The skins are used to make ejiao, a gelatine product found in traditional medicine, drinks, cakes and cosmetics. A single skin can fetch more than $400 in China, the report said.
Meeting demand requires four to five million skins annually, exceeding what Chinese breeders can supply. Companies consequently turn to Africa, which holds around two-thirds of the world’s donkeys, according to RFI. The financial incentive encourages theft and slaughter and drives up animal prices.
The losses fall on households with few resources and no alternative transport. For those families, losing a donkey means more than the disappearance of a saleable asset: it disrupts farm work, domestic services and daily journeys.
The African Union approved a 15-year moratorium in 2024 on slaughtering donkeys for their skins. Two years later, the report describes a continuing trade that strains rural communities, testing whether the announced protection translates into effective safeguards.
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