Huge step forward for donkey welfare as African nations support ban on skin trade
Donkeys rescued from slaughter, fostered by KSPCA and then rehabilitated and re-homed by Brooke East Africa.
We are celebrating a huge step forward for donkey welfare after African nations agreed to support a ban on the donkey skin trade.
The declaration was adopted at the Pan Africa Donkey Conference in Cote D'Ivoire, where African leaders vowed to enforce the existing ban.
They also pledged to step up checks at ports and borders by bringing in regional task forces of police, vets and customs and to share intelligence, increase investment in breeding donkeys at community level to rebuild herds lost to the trade, and to supporting alternative livelihoods.
Brooke revealed earlier this week that unless the cruel trade is stopped, Africa will lose half of its donkey population.
We have been tirelessly fighting the donkey skin trade and this is a huge step forward for donkeys.
We have made history by committing to the end of the trade across Africa. We will not stop fighting until this trade is ended and donkeys are once again safe.
Chris Wainwright, CEO of Brooke, said on behalf of ICWE: “I am confident that this (ICWE’s) strategy will create the required momentum for the implementation of the ban and with it the ultimate preservation and development of the donkey species.
“ICWE are proud to be a partner, funder and co-organiser of this conference.
“(Donkeys) are central to the socio-economic futures of so many communities in Africa.”
Brooke is part of ICWE, which also includes The Donkey Sanctuary, World Horse Welfare and SPANA.
We must speak with one voice, act as one and denounce with all our might to put an end to this despicable trade.
Emmanuel Sarr, Regional Director of Brooke West Africa, described that acting as one voice to end the trade "is the whole purpose of PADCO - moving from words to action.”
Brooke is also calling for a global ban on the trade and campaigning to reduce consumer demand for donkey skin products, by boycotting platforms selling ejiao.
The conference was organised by the African Union – Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), which encourages Africa to recognise donkeys as sentient beings who are invaluable to their communities.