The lucrative trade in donkey hides on the back of a growing Chinese demand for donkey skin is posing a threat to the animal population in Egypt. The donkey population fell from 3.2 million in 2010 to around 1.6 million at present, an animal rights activist told Al-Monitor. Within 20 years, donkeys could become extinct in Egypt due to the hide trade.

Although the Egyptian authorities set in 2012 an export quota of 8,000 hides annually, a higher demand from Chinese pharmaceutical companies has created a black market for hides in Egypt over the past eight years.

However, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has increased the quota to 10,000 donkey skins in order to get more hard currency, Howida el-Hadary, the country manager of the Egyptian Society for the Protection and Welfare of Working Animal (ESPWWA), an affiliate of the UK-based charity The Donkey Sanctuary, told Al-Monitor.

“The population of donkeys has been falling due to illegal slaughter and export operations. Egyptian farmers rely on donkeys to till their farmland. The animal is an asset in agriculture in this country,” Hadary said.