Luxor4u

Donkeys in Egypt Could Become Extinct in 20 Years.
The population of donkeys in Egypt has decreased by half since 2010.

Egypt's export of donkeys to China is endangering the animal's population, which has decreased by 1.6 million - around half - since 2010, according to a report by Ahmed El-Leithy for Al-Monitor. The report estimates that donkeys could become extinct in Egypt in 20 years.

The trade itself is legal and regulated by Egyptian authorities; however, with the increasing demand in China, the quota for export has increased from 8,000 hides annually to 10,000 and illegal slaughter of donkeys has increased, as the hide is more valuable than the live animal. Subsequently, a black market has formed around the trade.

According to Howida El-Hadary, country manager of the Egyptian Society for the Protection and Welfare of Working Animals (ESPWWA), which is an affiliate of UK-based charity, The Donkey Sanctuary, Chinese pharmaceuticals and food and beverage companies have been acquiring their needed supply of hide from African markets to extract donkey-hide gelatin, which is worth $385 a Kilogram. The gelatin is used in face creams and blood tonic to treat people with anemia, low blood cell count or reproductive issues.

She argues that donkeys are essential for agriculture in Egypt, and the drop in their population would increase the cost of farming, resulting in a rise in the prices of agricultural goods, as well as local carbon footprints, as farmers would resort to using tuk-tuks and other fossil-fuel operated vehicles.

Dina Zulfikar, an Egyptian animal rights activist explained to Al-Monitor that, “A she-ass gives birth to a foal annually. It is impossible to make up for the loss of donkeys,” adding that losing donkeys to extinction is would damage local economies and no temporary hard-currency inflows gained from exporting their hides would make up or it.


http://cairoscene.com/Buzz/egypt-donkey ... enty-years

Ah! life was far slower with donkeys' Who remembers the donkey park next to the ferry ?
I never could figure out how the correct donkey was identified lol...

The illegal 3 wheeled tuc tuc trucks are becoming more common round here but the donkey carts are still just as busy, and quieter. A donkey does not require a licence and runs on any vegetable matter or weeds.

Ah! the good old days, when photography was taken on a camera....

Yarko Kobeleki
Luxor Art Gallery
Ps: If you have to ask 'how much ? 'you can't afford it...
Pss: One can't beat a good donkey, that's an 'anachronism, I think!

Watched a documentary yesterday on this, it stated that there are an estimated forty million donkeys in existence world wide, China needs ten million hides a year to cope with the demand of this product, the reasons stated are because such a small amount of the product is produced from each hide. But does it really do what the label states it does? Usually these so called cure all herbal remedies the Chinese churn out are unless, but this one is a high end product, a very expensive one that is usually given as gifts to show how wealthy the giver is. In the African states that people rely on the donkey for their living, farmers, are now having their live stock stolen because the Chinese have put such a high price on obtaining the hides, so many families are now suffering because of a stupid lotion that in all probability is useless. And now the Japaneses have removed themselves from the save the whales club and are due to restart their barbaric hunting of these magnificent beasts. Probably because their so called ''scientific research'' has drawn the conclusions it needed, we need more whale meat.

Talking of Whalers I hear the UK Government have allowed them into the English Channel, providing their harpoons are sharpe and they are good shots!

Not a pleasent joke Major Thom

Winged Isis.

I thought this a joke - or irony.

From an alternative and two legged point of view the extinction of the two legged donkeys could be the best and biggest thing for 500 years from the point of view of the benighted average Egyptian.