Nigerian officials intercepted a 40-foot shipping container holding illegal animal products, according to Vanguard.
What's happening?
Fifteen tons of salted donkey skins worth roughly $2.35 million were confiscated by the Nigeria Customs Service in the southern state of Imo.
The export has grown in popularity to feed demand for traditional medicine in China. Donkey skins are used in a gelatin product called ejiao. It supposedly treats bleeding, dizziness, insomnia, and dry cough, although no studies support these claims.
Why are donkey skins important?
The demand for ejiao is so high that it has led to an increase in donkey theft across Africa, according to the BBC. This is problematic, as donkeys are important economic supports in farmwork.
Worse still, donkey skins can act as a vector for serious diseases. One study of the Nigerian donkey skin trade found in the products traces of African horse sickness, the disease-causing bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, and antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria, The Donkey Sanctuary reported. This staph bacteria includes some that produce a flesh-eating toxin.
Transmission from animals is the primary source of novel viruses in humans, and such illicit trade is only one avenue for this to occur. Shifting weather patterns are also extending the lifespan of disease-carrying insects, causing an increase in incidents of Lyme disease and malaria.
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What's being done about the trade of donkey skins?
Due to the health and economic challenges the trade creates, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal have joined Nigeria in banning the trade of donkey skins.
Nigeria is consistent in its enforcement of stopping the illegal trade of donkey skins. It made an even larger seizure of the same product just a few months ago, as TVC News Nigeria reported.
"The seized container is currently under investigation, and further actions will be taken in line with the provisions of the Nigeria Customs Service Act (2023) and other relevant laws," said Comptroller Bishir Balogun in a post on the social platform X.
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