Donkeys and the illegal wildlife trade, a day in the life of a global vet surgeon and debunking the 'stubborn' myth

In this edition of Donkey Work, explore the illegal wildlife trade with Conservation Scientist Jennifer Croes and, in our new skin trade explainer series, learn more about ejiao and how donkeys are involved in its production. We also follow Global Lead Veterinary Surgeon Emma O’Hagan to Kenya where rabies and tetanus vaccinations are saving not just donkeys, but local human and animal populations too.?

From wildlife crime fighting to global veterinary care, this edition shines a spotlight on all the unexpected places where donkeys play a critical role. We hope these stories inspire you and help deepen your understanding of why we need to advocate for these special creatures in every corner of the world.?

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Donkeys and me - Conservation Scientist, Jennifer Croes

"The illegal wildlife trade is prominent - it didn't matter whether I was in Bolivia or Borneo, it was everywhere - and people were at the centre of it."

Conservation Scientist Jennifer Croes' work involves combating wildlife trafficking within public and private sectors, and working alongside law enforcement authorities to instigate high-level change. You might not expect this work to intersect with donkeys, but it does. We spoke to her to find out more…?

What do you do??

I'm a conservation scientist specialising in illegal wildlife trade or wildlife crime. I was one of the first people working on the illegal wildlife trade before it was even considered a conservation challenge.

How did you get into this work???

I was a management consultant, but I just felt as though "enough's enough" in this field. I think passion for your work is so important.?

I gave everything up, packed my bags and went to the Amazon Basin in Bolivia with an open-ended ticket. I rescued wildlife from illegal wildlife markets and rehabilitated them. I worked with pumas particularly, but we also had toucans, parrots and spider monkeys that were poached, orphaned and taken from their mothers to be exotic pets. It was crazy when I think about it. I’d run with a puma on a ten-metre long chain or rope, machete in hand, in gumboots, around the jungle to help it understand what it was to be wild again.??

This epiphany was my calling to work in this space, but in order for me to be heard and taken seriously, I needed to go back to study as a scientist. In the meantime, I worked at WWF and also at an orangutan rescue centre. The illegal wildlife trade was prominent - it didn’t matter whether I was in Bolivia or in Borneo, it was everywhere - and people were at the centre of it. My role has really evolved from the Amazon to donkeys, and everything else in between!??

And how does this intersect with donkeys??

Before working with The Donkey Sanctuary, I was not aware of the extent of the donkey skins trade and its convergence with wildlife trafficking or other transnational organised crime. I was shocked. To combat the donkey skin trade, we need to look at it in the context of wider wildlife crime.??

People focus on ‘charismatic species’, animals that tug at people's heartstrings - elephants, rhinos, tigers, lions. We can raise the profile of donkey skins where it converges with other wildlife crime, specifically rhino horn, big cats, seahorses, pangolin scales and more. We leverage off those conversations to make sure that the donkey skin trade doesn’t get lost. As donkeys are a working animal, they often don’t get the attention that they deserve, but wildlife crime is a big topic.??

Read the full interview here ?

Hooves on the ground - a day in the life of a Global Vet Surgeon

This month we follow Emma O’Hagan to Kenya, as she helps deliver a lifesaving vaccination programme and shares more about the health conditions faced by donkeys globally.?

Emma realised her love for donkeys early in her career, when she worked for a local private equine practice in East Devon who looked after many donkeys – including some from The Donkey Sanctuary.??

She says, “In a typical week I do a couple of days of vet work, responding to emergency calls to see donkeys across our eight sanctuary sites or doing routine visits. These visits involve check-ups and seeing less urgent cases on a specific farm. Occasionally I will also join other vets to treat a donkey in the hospital too.”?

In June, Emma traveled to the island of Lamu in Kenya to visit The Donkey Sanctuary’s veterinary clinic and growing programme of work across the donkey-reliant communities in this region.?

The Donkey Sanctuary’s seafront clinic in the heart of Lamu town has been helping donkeys and owners since it opened its doors nearly 40 years ago. Lamu is Kenya’s oldest continually inhabited town, more than 700 years old and is home to more than 6,000 donkeys. The streets are narrow – often little more than an arm’s length wide – meaning that travelling by car is impossible. Donkeys are the backbone of the economy here. Without motorised vehicles, donkeys are relied upon to move goods, building materials and people around the town.?

Emma said, "This visit was a fascinating insight into the activities of the clinic, and an opportunity to see our tetanus and rabies vaccination campaign firsthand and workshop the next stages of the programme’s development with our country team. With a fatality rate of almost 100% in humans and animals alike, rabies remains a global threat in communities like Lamu. There is no cure, so prevention is vital. We know that what saves animals, will save humans too. As part of our 'one welfare' approach our programme works to vaccinate not just donkeys and mules but companion animals like dogs too, which transmit the disease. ”?

Read more about Emma’s experiences here

Donkey fact of the month

Studies show that more than half of people wrongly believe that donkeys are stubborn (YouGov, 2020). But what many people misinterpret as stupidity or stubbornness is actually related to their stoic nature, which is the donkey’s key survival mechanism. This means they are good at hiding fear or pain, to prevent predators spotting signs of weakness.??

The Donkey Sanctuary’s Animal Behavourist Ben Hart explains, “The donkeys' stoic nature, minimal body language and their natural propensity to freeze when threatened or frightened, combined with a reluctance to put themselves at risk, results in donkeys commonly being mislabelled as stupid or stubborn. I believe anyone that calls a donkey stupid, has simply been outsmarted by one!"?

Campaign in focus: the skin trade

What is ejiao??

Ejiao (pronounced uh-jee-ow), also known as 'colla corii asini' or 'donkey-hide glue', is a key ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It is produced from the collagen extracted from donkey skin.?

The collagen is mixed with herbs and other ingredients to create bars, pills or liquids for consumable goods or beauty products.?

The rapid expansion of China’s cash-rich middle classes in recent years has fuelled demand for exclusive or luxury TCM products - such as ejiao, rhino horn and tiger parts - that have historical roots and can be traced back many centuries.??

Marketing of ejiao through television and the internet, in particular since 2010, has increased appeal to a younger, more consumer-driven audience. Whilst the principal market for ejiao is within China, there appears to be increasing interest in ejiao products globally. News reports have highlighted the availability of products containing ejiao in TCM stores in London and being freely traded through international trading platforms such as eBay and Amazon.?

Why donkeys??

Donkeys are specifically used for ejiao for several reasons related to cultural, historical and medicinal beliefs, as well as the properties of the collagen in donkey skin.?

Donkey skin contains specific types of collagen that, when boiled down and processed, yield a gelatine with a texture and composition that TCM practitioners believe to have beneficial effects on human health. Donkeys were historically less common than other livestock like cows or pigs, making products derived from them more rare and expensive. The rarity of the source material adds to the prestige and supposed efficacy of ejiao, enhancing its value in the market.?

China’s donkey populations have been decimated as a result of demand for ejiao products. As a consequence, manufacturers have looked further afield to territories including Africa and Brazil, where the impact on donkey numbers has been devastating.??

• 75% reduction in the donkey population in China (1992-2019)?

• 37% reduction in the donkey population in Botswana (2011-2017)?

• 28% reduction in the donkey population in Brazil (2007-2017)?

(Figures taken from Under the Skin: Update report , The Donkey Sanctuary, 2019)?

How are donkeys sourced??

To meet the relentless demand for skins, donkeys are bought, captured or stolen, including from donkey-dependent communities.??

Millions of people worldwide rely on donkeys for their livelihoods and, as demand for donkey skins has increased, vulnerable communities have become the victims of the international skin trade. If the current rates of donkey slaughter continue, the impact on global donkey populations could be catastrophic and lead to several hundred million people losing part, or all, of their livelihoods.??

The human impact, as well as the disastrous implications on the welfare of millions of donkeys around the world, means there is no place for this brutal trade in the modern world.

In next month’s explainer, learn more about the realities of the transport, slaughter and shipping stages of the donkey skin trade.?

Learn more ?

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