Donkey Skin Trade Poses Serious Risk to International Biosecurity – evidenced by new report

• A new report from The Donkey Sanctuary has identified previously unrecognised biosecurity threats to equines and humans due to the donkey skin trade.
• Testing carried out on 108 donkey skin samples from an abattoir in Kenya found 88 of them to be carrying Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria, including 44 samples positive for the methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strain and three S. aureus samples positive for the PVL- toxin known to cause invasive necrotising disease in humans.
• Zoonotic diseases are one of the biggest threats to public health worldwide - unsanitary slaughter methods in backyard and licensed slaughterhouses are creating potentially devastating biosecurity hazards.
• The cruel and inhumane global trade in donkey skins results in suffering for donkeys and donkey-dependent communities on a devastating scale.  
• Findings from the Biosecurity Risks and Implications for Human & Animal Health on a Global Scale report are being discussed at the AU-IBAR Pan-African Donkey Conference in Tanzania on 1-2 December 2022.

Over 4.8 million donkeys are traded and slaughtered for their skins each year. The global trade in donkey skins results in suffering for donkeys and donkey-dependent communities on a devastating scale. A new report from The Donkey Sanctuary reveals the trade is also contributing significant and previously unrecognised risks to international biosecurity.

The report Biosecurity Risks and Implications for Human & Animal Health on a Global Scale contains the findings of donkey skin testing conducted by The Donkey Sanctuary and the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya (ILRI). This testing identified multiple specimens contaminated with S. aureus and African horse sickness (AHS). In the case of S. aureus contaminated skins, 44 of 108 tested were found to be carrying the drug-resistant MRSA variant, and three of the positive samples were carrying the PVL-toxin - known to cause invasive necrotising diseases in humans.

The demand for donkey skins is driven by the production of ejiao, a traditional Chinese remedy believed by some to have medicinal properties. The huge numbers of donkeys involved, the indiscriminate and often unhygienic slaughter, including of those that are sick, the disparate way skins are shipped and transported, and the global nature of the trade, all add up to the high risk posed by skins intended for ejiao production that are contaminated with disease-causing agents.

In addition to the immediate health risk to the people and equines exposed to these skins, the biosecurity implications for the destination countries are considerable. Diseases that are endemic in source countries may not be present at all in transit or destination countries, leading to potential outbreaks of diseases in local, naïve equine populations.

Worryingly, the donkey skin trade currently operates without adequate veterinary and biosecurity protocols. The unregulated and clandestine nature of much of the trade also means that shipments are often impossible to track, and contaminated skins therefore unable to be traced.

Poor and unsanitary slaughtering conditions are a key contributor to the trade’s biosecurity hazards, particularly in cases where large groups of animals from different populations are brought together. The majority of the trade relies on illegal backyard slaughtering, which increases the risk of donkey skins being contaminated by disturbed soil or other infectious agents. Where multiple species are slaughtered at the same location there is a further risk of cross contamination.

However, even skins processed in licenced slaughterhouses constitute a biosecurity risk. All of the contaminated skin samples identified by The Donkey Sanctuary originated in a licensed slaughterhouse in Kenya. In the same month as the samples were collected, consignments of skins were collected from this location and shipped to a destination in China.

Marianne Steele, Chief Executive of The Donkey Sanctuary said: “The global trade in donkey skins is cruel and inhumane, unregulated and unnecessary, which results in suffering for donkeys and donkey-dependent communities on a devastating scale.

"While many may choose to turn away from the direct impacts on animals and people, I would implore consumers, governments and the wider public to take notice of the risks to animal and human health.

“The global trade in donkey skins should be halted immediately. We now have evidence it is neither humane, sustainable nor safe and allowing it to continue, given the risks we have revealed, is unanswerable.

“If nothing else, the recent lessons of Covid-19, and the current outbreak of avian flu, should make us sit up and take notice of the emerging threats that zoonotic diseases pose.”

The findings of the report will be presented at the African Union InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources Pan-African Donkey Conference in Dar es Salaam Tanzania, taking place 1-2 December 2022.

Key disease risks and transmission vectors:

The diseases identified in the samples taken by The Donkey Sanctuary represent a danger to both human and equine health, even when shipped across great distances.

S. aureus has the ability to survive long periods of transit on poorly preserved skins, meaning that it can infect humans and animals at the point of slaughter as well as during transit and on delivery in the destination country. AHS can be carried by vector insects (Cullicoides midge), who may have the potential to survive long journeys in shipping containers and infect new equine hosts on arrival.

The Donkey Sanctuary is calling on the governments of China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand to immediately stop the import of donkey skins, and on the national governments of exporting countries to take immediate steps to stop the trade in donkey skins.

Dr Faith Burden, Executive Director of Equine Operations at The Donkey Sanctuary, said: “The findings throughout the report are shocking, although not altogether unsurprising. The disease risks for animals and humans are obvious, with poor hygiene at all stages of the trade.

"The lack of traceability and basic biosecurity should alarm anyone involved in the trade and puts people and animals in general at significant risk.

“The skins tested were from one slaughterhouse sourced on one day. I am sure that skins from other sources and in other countries and continents, if tested, could indicate the presence of other important pathogens such as glanders, equine influenza and African swine fever.”

To find out more, read the full report.