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DONKEY SKINS ARE THE NEW IVORY
DONKEY SKINS ARE THE NEW IVORY

I was traveling on a short tour from Gaborone to Jwaneng , Orapa and as any photographer on the way I was stopping and taking random photographs. I spotted this guys on some pans near a village.
Looks like we will be alright, villagers are still using them for transport.
Donkeys are the backbone of many farming villages in Botswana. The animals’ ranks have thinned dramatically, the primary cause is neither disease nor declining demand for live donkeys, but instead a burgeoning market for their hides. From 2011 to 2016, the number of donkeys fell by 60% in Botswana.
Since ancient times the Chinese have consumed ejiao, a gelatine made by boiling and refining donkey skin to produce a tonic taken as an elixir.
Botswana banned the export to donkey skin to China a while ago, and the numbers start increasing significantly.

02/02/2019

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