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FastWalkingShortGuy t1_ja0eyyc wrote

I don't get why that's a big deal... did donkeys suddenly become endangered when I wasn't looking?

They're livestock. Their various parts have different commercial applications.

This is no different than any leather goods.

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WyrdHarper t1_ja0tj1b wrote

Yes, African Wild Asses are critically endangered. Read the article; these aren’t just domestic donkeys.

The donkey hide trade is also a major route by which zoonotic infectious diseases, including Brucellosis and Leptospirosis, can be spread. There are also concerns for its ability to bring in African Horse Sickness and Burkholderia spp. diseases which would be devastating to our domestic equine species and economically damaging.

It’s also used to spread money via illegal backchannels to fund criminal organizations.

Donkey products can be used in some cases in the United States; however, because they are not considered food and fiber animals there are fewer regulations documenting medications that have been used in them, including drug residues which can kill humans.

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persfinthrowa t1_ja0vx86 wrote

I’m not seeing anything in the article about disease or African Wild Asses?

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WyrdHarper t1_ja0xkmi wrote

It talks about South Africa. The illegal donkey hide trade has been going on for years so not everything is in this specific one. This is not a new thing.

Various donkey and ass species in Africa get processed for hides and other byproducts and sold to parts of Europe or SEA (especially Thailand) due to their value in traditional medicines where the information about the source is laundered and they are sold globally.

The parent comment was quite ignorant about this well-known issue and its global public and animal health issues.

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Mayor__Defacto t1_ja1i1o6 wrote

There’s 570 of them. It’s way, way more efficient to just raise domesticated donkeys as livestock than poach them from the wild lol. In Central Asia you can buy one for 80 bucks a head.

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Head-Investigator846 t1_ja2ys9d wrote

African Wild Asses are not native to South Africa. They live on the whole other side of the African continent. the article doesn’t mention anything about the African Wild Ass.

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persfinthrowa t1_ja105g6 wrote

Okay thanks for the info. This is certainly the first most in here including myself are hearing about this issue. If you have time, I’d suggest updating your other comment with sources so people could learn more. I legitimately thought everything you said was pointed out in this article.

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TranscodedMusic t1_ja1b3bf wrote

African Wild Asses is one of my favorite films - it pains me that it’s now endangered 😔

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redditEATdicks t1_ja1hk03 wrote

Nah they all went from the pole to waitressing at waffle house, they didn't die off, just moved native habitats.

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Amauri14 t1_ja1yypu wrote

I have never checked that one, maybe I should give it a watch before watching Big Wet Asses 26.

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GroinShotz t1_ja0w9qg wrote

The only law it's violating is an animal welfare law in the state of California.

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GrizzledFart t1_ja0wwym wrote

Not if the product isn't made in California. There might be a particular product importation ban, but that's not animal welfare - unless California thinks it can legislate animal husbandry practices in China.

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GroinShotz t1_ja164kx wrote

This is the best tl;dr I could make, The US Center for Contemporary Equine Studies is suing Amazon for selling products containing a donkey derivative, despite efforts from advocacy groups to halt the practice.

The lawsuit claims the e-commerce giant is illegally selling products that contain "Ejiao" a gelatin made from the skin of donkeys and used in various products like health supplements - in violation of California animal welfare law.**

According to the Brooke USA Foundation, a group fighting against Amazon in support of donkey welfare, ejiao acts as "a hard gel that can be dissolved in hot water or alcohol to be used in food or drink, or in beauty products such as face creams." Some advocacy groups and consumers claim companies are deceptively using the substance, contributing to the slaughter and skinning of millions of donkeys a year.

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yukon-flower t1_ja4tyzz wrote

I’m excited about the idea of Amazon being held more responsible for the crap it peddles.

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rtyuuytr t1_ja0fnb7 wrote

This 1000x,

Donkey is an livestock like a cow or a pig or a chicken (or even even a dog to Korean dog farmers). Humans use every part of livestocks. But boo hoo, someone is selling products derived from donkey skin, that's a big bad no.

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WerewolfHowls t1_ja1bday wrote

Yes but they're using the endangered African Wild Asses not the domestic ones we produce easily... But I mean go off, who even cares, right? Doesn't directly affect you. Might as well keep child labor and marriage going too as long as it isn't your family, welfare be damned, right?

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Head-Investigator846 t1_ja2yx3k wrote

Where does the article mentioned the African Wild Ass? The African Wild Ass is not native to south africa. Not even close

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