Donkeys face worldwide existential threat

In her article ‘Donkeys face worldwide existential threat’ (13 December p1294), Christa Lesté-Lasserre states that the market for donkey hides to produce gelatin for ejiao has triggered steep donkey population declines. Certainly, the popularity (1) and rapidly rising prices for ejiao and donkey hides has caused Chinese ejiao producers to look globally for supplies of donkey hides due to an insufficient donkey population in China (largely due to increased mechanization) (2,3,4,5). Several countries have put in place restrictions or out-right bans on the export of donkeys and donkey hides to protect their populations (6). Chinese ejiao producers have taken initiatives to expand the domestic donkey population (7), including setting up new large-scale intensive donkey farming systems the like of which the world has not seen before. Donkeys have been little bred and selected for their breeding performance and breeding them is relatively slow and costly (8,9). Simulations from population modelling show that even assuming the highest levels of reproductive performance it would take 10-15 years or more for donkey populations in China to be built up to meet the demand for ejiao (10). The attitudes and beliefs of Chinese consumers towards ejiao are complex. Our survey of ejiao consumers in China showed that just under half state they would try a lab-grown alternative. Whether they would switch to consuming the lab-grown alternative remains a question.
The implications of this are (i) prices for donkeys and donkey hides will continue to increase for some time (ii) companies producing ejiao will diversify their products and ingredients to reduce the amount of ejiao needed (11) (iii) China will continue to explore non-domestic sources of donkey hides (iv) continued financial incentive for theft and illegal trade of donkeys and (v) concern for low income rural households reliant on donkeys for their livelihoods and for the welfare of donkeys (6, 12).
References
1. Ge, S., He, T. T. and Hu, H. (2014) ‘Popularity and customer preferences for over-the-counter Chinese medicines perceived by community pharmacists in Shanghai and Guangzhou: A questionnaire survey study’, Chinese Medicine (United Kingdom), 9(1), pp. 1–8. doi: 10.1186/1749-8546-9-22.
2. Cox, L. (2017) ‘Dramatic decline in donkey populations blamed on consumer demand for “ejiao”’, Veterinary Record, 181(23), p. 610. doi: 10.1136/vr.j5687.
3. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Statistics Division (2019) FAOStat. Available at: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QA (Accessed: 2 August 2019).
4. National Bureau of Statistics of China (2019) No Title, National Data. Available at: http://data.stats.gov.cn/english/easyquery.htm?cn=C01 (Accessed: 2 August 2019)
5. Swift, A. (2016) Ejiao: Donkeys are paying the price for China’s rapid progress and lost traditions. Available at: https://donkeytime.org/2016/12/18/ejiao-donkeys-are-paying-the-price-for... progress-and-lost-traditions/ (Accessed: 3 March 2019).
6. The Donkey Sanctuary (2019) Under the skin: Update on the global crisis for donkeys and the people who depend on them. Sidmouth. Available at: https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/sites/uk/files/2019-11/under-the-s... (Accessed: 12 December 2019)
7. Hancock, T. and Xueqiao, W. (2018) ‘China bets on donkey breeding to curb Africa imports’, Financial Times Online, 15 February. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/bee2b852-0190-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5. (Accessed: 12 August 2018)
8. Miragaya, M. H., Neild, D. M. and Alonso, A. E. (2018) ‘A Review of Reproductive Biology and Biotechnologies in Donkeys’, Journal of Equine Veterinary Science. Elsevier Taiwan LLC, 65, pp. 55–61. doi: 10.1016/j.jevs.2017.12.005.
9. Wu, C. (2017) ‘Status of Chinese donkey industry’, in Proceedings of 1st International Symposium on Donkey Science. 14th to 17th August. Dong’E, Shandong, P.R. China.
10. Bennett, R. and Pfuderer, S. (2019) Demand for donkey hides and implications for global donkey populations. Paper presented at the 93th Annual Conference of the Agricultural Economics Society, University of Warwick, UK, 15 - 17 April 2019. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.289683
11. Xinhua News Agency (2016) ‘Shortage of donkey skin breeds TCM fakes’, China Daily, 28 January. Available at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-01/28/content_23287841.htm. (Accessed: 5 September 2017)
12. The Donkey Sanctuary (2017) Under the skin: The emerging trade in donkey skins and its implications for donkey welfare and livelihoods. Sidmouth. Available at: https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/sites/uk/files/2017-11/under_the_s.... (Accessed: 5 July 2017)