China 'medicine' demand threatens world donkey population: report

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 

Researchers say China's demand for donkey skins threatens the world's donkey population 

China's demand for donkey skins to make a traditional medicine could wipe out more than half the world's donkey population in the next five years, researchers said Thursday. 

Nearly five million skins are used every year to make ejiao, a gel believed in China to be a remedy for troubles ranging from colds to ageing, putting enormous strain on donkey populations around the world, Britain-based animal welfare group Donkey Sanctuary said in a report. 

Ejiao was once the preserve of emperors but is now highly sought after by a burgeoning middle class, with production growing 20 percent each year between 2013 and 2016, Donkey Sanctuary said. 

China's domestic donkey population has collapsed by 76 percent since 1992, and the country imports most of the donkey skins it uses, mainly from traders in South America, Africa and Asia. 

There are currently around 45.8 million donkeys in the world, Donkey Sanctuary said. 

The donkey skin trade has resulted in "suffering on an enormous and unacceptable scale", the group's chief executive Mike Baker said in a statement. 

Researchers documented instances of unhygienic and inhumane processing conditions, including donkeys being crudely bludgeoned on the head at one slaughterhouse in Tanzania while still conscious and restrained. 

At a holding facility in Brazil, malnourished animals were being kept in the same pens as "hundreds of donkey carcasses" that had contaminated the only available water source, "putting remaining donkeys at risk of either infectious disease or severe dehydration". 

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Designer Monika Jarosz creates luxury bags using dyed cane toad skins; sell for up to $360 - via Herp Digest

 AFP, October 24, 2013 adelaidenow.com.au

YOU may know cane toads as a poisonous ecological invader, but one fashion designer has turned them into a hot fashion accessory.

Polish designer Monika Jarosz's luxury Kobja brand inspired by the fairytale idea of the "toad that transforms itself into Prince Charming".

Introduced from South America decades ago to control the native cane beetle, the cane toad may have outstayed its welcome in the South Sea Islands and in Australia, but today their skins have become a much-prized luxury fashion material.

A friend unknowingly set the wheels of innovation in motion by giving Ms Jarosz a stuffed frog from New Zealand as a gift.

"(It) disgusted me but ended up by fascinating me," she said.

Three short years later, and her luxury accessory business is producing bags, belts and purses made from whole skins, set with semi-precious stones or Swarovski crystals in place of the eyes.

The high-end leather items, which come in an array of colours including vermilion red, emerald green, turquoise, fuchsia and black, are now sold in Asia, Europe and the US.

A purse can cost between between 220 and 250 euros ($300 and $360), depending on the country, while a large bag would be priced at around 1200 euros.

Ms Jarosz came to France from Poland 12 years ago to work as a model before developing an interest in design, in particular working with unusual materials.

Fascinated by the stuffed frog, she recalled that the more she stroked it the more the idea of creating something "really good like a jewel" from a similar material started to take shape.

But finding skins to work with presented a problem. In vain, Ms Jarosz made inquiries with restaurants serving frogs legs.

Then she discovered the existence of the toads of the South Sea Islands where they had proliferated to such an extent they were in the process of destroying several local species.

Animal defence organisations had recommended that they be selectively eliminated.

With the help of a taxidermist in Cairns, Ms Jarosz set about transforming the skins into high fashion.

After the taxidermy, the skins are tanned, dried and coloured in France, ending up in a workshop in Paris where the leather is cut, stitched, set with crystals or stones and lined with lamb or goat skin.

"When I called Jean-Charles Duchene (who runs the tannery in Paris) for a quote, they thought it was a joke," she recalled.

"It was a challenge because we had to adapt to the material. The toad (skin) is denser than lamb, the dye is fixed quicker and it needs less," she added.

A symbol of fertility and prosperity in some cultures, the toad is also linked to sorcery, Ms Jarosz added.

Now sold in luxury goods shops or concept stores in Tokyo, Beijing, New York, Paris and Berlin, Ms Jarosz's quirky products have developed an almost cult-like following among some customers.

Some even give their bags names, she said, and regularly update her with news about them.

Fashion Houses Snapping up Croc Farms, - via Herp Digest

Brisbane Times (Australia) 4/23/13---International fashion houses are snapping up Australian crocodile farms to feed demand for accessories made from the reptiles' skins, a farmer says. 

Lillian Lever, who owns Koorana Crocodile Farm near Rockhampton, is approached at least once a month by international fashion houses wanting to buy her farm, which exports saltwater crocodile skins. 

She says five farms have been bought over the past year in Queensland and the Northern Territory. 

"What's going to happen is that they're going to be able to set the prices," she said. 

"It will turn into a monopoly." 

She said because croc farms are so expensive and take so long to establish there is only a small pool of companies that can afford to purchase them. 

The bulk of her croc skins are exported to Europe. 

There are 14 commercial croc farms in Australia, exporting about $20 million worth of crocodile skins each year. 

Ms Lever said Louis Vuitton has bought a farm in Innisfail in far north Queensland, while Hermes has brought one in Cairns and two others in the Northern Territory.

Deadly poison threat to tigers

By David Shukman, Science editor, BBC News

Poison is emerging as the latest and most dangerous threat to the survival of the last remaining wild tigers in Thailand.

Poachers targeting tigers for their valuable skins and body parts are turning to insecticide as an easy way to kill the iconic animals.

In what's regarded as Thailand's most important tiger sanctuary, wildlife rangers report mounting evidence of gangs setting traps with fresh meat, laced with poison, as bait.

In one particularly shocking incident, two tiger cubs were found close to death after eating the bait. By the time they had been discovered, it was too late to save them.

Rangers described the frustration of finding the cubs and seeing them in extreme pain but too far gone to be revived.

The two tiny animals had crawled into the bush to die so the poachers had failed to notice them. But they had evidently located the cubs' mother and made off with her body because no trace was seen of her.

 “If we relax our patrols even a little bit, we would lose many tigers to poachers”  Anak Pattanavibool, Wildlife Conservation Society in Thailand

The poachers had shot and butchered an elephant to create a supply of fresh meat for their trap. Before the tigers found it, some of the bait had been eaten by wild dogs, civet cats and even a monitor lizard - and all had died.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21618346

Gucci, Hermès, Cartier & Co.: Stop the snake slaughter in Indonesia! 10/22/10, Rainforest Rescue

Switzerland is the world's largest trader in products manufactured from threatened species. Every year, the Swiss watchmaking industry alone imports more than one million leather watch bands made from the skins of endangered reptiles.

Apparently, neither the industry nor its exclusive clientele care about the incredible torture the animals have to endure just to end up as fashionable accessories. A video clip aired on Swiss news broadcast "Rundschau" (link) reveals how Water monitors are tied together and kept in plastic bags for days, until they are killed by a hammer blow to the head. However, a large number of these animals survive their severe injuries - and are skinned alive as a consequence. Snakes get an additional "water treatment" prior to flaying: A hook through the upper jaw locks them into position, and a hose is inserted that fills their bodies with water. This procedure is employed in order to stretch their bodies so straight cuts can be made before the skinning. Unequivocally, the struggling movements of the animals prove that they are alive all along.

In the light of this footage, it is shocking that most of the companies in dispute have not responded in any appropriate way. For example, in the interview with the chairman of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, Jean-Daniel Pasche simply declares that animal welfare was an issue not yet discussed by the management bodies of the companies - and thus, he himself could not make a statement.

Nevertheless, the issue of animal protection is especially pressing. The excessive hunt for reptiles has already reached an alarming level: By now, the number of animals has decreased to such an extent that the "lizard hunters" catch no more than ten specimens per night. After all, Indonesia alone exports about 400.000 skins of Water monitors. The governments of the individual countries themselves allocate the catch quota - even if they lack scientific statistics concerning the species' population. As an example, the Asiatic reticulated python has an annual bag limit of 157.000 specimens in Indonesia. Furthermore, NGO TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, has proof that the exemption limits for export are exceeded constantly. Indonesian companies smuggle untanned hides into Malaysia, for example. There, grants of export licences are bought - and charged to the Malaysian catch quota.

The reference sources have to be classified as doubtful anyway. In Switzerland, the trading in protected species and animals is subject to licencing as well.

Even there, some of the corresponding papers for reticulated pythons are marked with the identification code for "breeding business" - although these breeding farms do not exist in Indonesia. Addressed with this fact, the Swiss federal office in charge promises to forward this piece of information to the central office to issue export licences, CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

So far, Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch is the only enterprise to respond to the news report immediately. CEO Nick Hayek, Jr. radically deletes products with dubious background from the company's range - even though watch bands made from alligator leather provided by Northamerican breeding farms are set to remain on offer. However, these suppliers will be thoroughly checked by Swatch as well.

Gucci has its own tannery for the imported hides, but as of yet has not passed a comment. Hermès and Cartier simply point out that their commercial trading businesses abide by current legislation. Bally on the other hand insists on their python hides to coming from Indonesian breeding farms - which do not exist, according to the Swiss federal office.

Rainforest Rescue calls for the Swiss fashion companies and the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry to stop importing exotic leather types of protected animals. The methods for catching and processing can only be classified as animal cruelty. Moreover, this particular way of commercial trading poses a considerable threat to the rainforest's biodiversity.

From: HerpDigest Volume # 10 Issue # 47 11/5/10 (A Not-for-Profit Publication)