Why donkey skins are fetching $400 each in a booming illegal trade across Africa

Dubai: Donkeys across Africa are facing growing threats from criminal networks that smuggle them across borders, slaughter them in illegal abattoirs and export their skins, which can fetch around $400 each.

The trade is driven by demand for gelatine extracted from donkey skins, used in medicinal and traditional products popular in some Asian markets, where they are believed to help preserve youth and improve health.

Reports warn that the expanding trade threatens donkey populations across Africa and could deprive millions of rural families of a vital source of transport, work and income, while raising health and environmental concerns linked to unregulated slaughter.

According to animal welfare organisation The Donkey Sanctuary, an estimated six million donkeys are slaughtered for their skins each year out of a global population of around 50 million, approximately 70 per cent of which are found in Africa.

Alex Jonata, head of the Association for the Protection of Donkeys in Africa, said specialised networks targeted villagers, offering high prices to buy their donkeys, while other gangs resorted to stealing the animals, according to Sky News Arabia.

The donkeys are then transported to remote locations, where they are secretly slaughtered before their skins are collected for sale.

Across large parts of Africa, donkeys are essential for transporting water, food and medicine. They are also used to carry crops and agricultural products to markets and, in some remote communities, help transport children to school.

Esme Primrose Wheeler, Public Affairs Manager at The Donkey Sanctuary, said the trade was responsible for the slaughter of millions of donkeys each year, despite the crucial role the animals play in reducing poverty and providing direct and indirect sources of income for millions of people.

The organisation warned that the theft or loss of a donkey meant far more than losing an animal. It could deprive an entire family of an essential means of production and livelihood, increasing the economic and social pressures they face.