NEWS
HHCU , SAPS bust donkey hide export scam
Amajor donkey hide exporting operation has been uncovered
Container packed with skins on the East Rand following the receipt by the Highveld Horse Care Unit ( HHCU ) of photographs showing hides draped over the branches of trees to dry . These led HHCU personnel to a smallholding in Putfontein where a storeroom stacked with dried salted hides as well as a container-full of hides were discovered . The HHCU estimates at least 5 000 hides were found . The plot , which also has a vegetable-growing operation on it , is alleged to be inhabited by Chinese nationals who , speaking in broken English , produced a couple of receipts for some skins bought in rural areas of Limpopo and in Taung . However , the receipts did not cover anything like the number of hides on the plot and the contents of the shed and container were then impounded by the SA Police Service ( SAPS ) pending further investigation . Although the Chinese nationals were said to be unable or unwilling to be anything more than vague about the provenance or destination of the skins , workers on the smallholding are alleged to have told investigators that the operation sees a container being packed with donkey skins and despatched by road to Durban on an almost weekly basis . From there the container is shipped by sea to China where the skins are used in traditional Chinese medicines . The Chinese donkey skin trade is becoming a major problem throughout Africa , with numbers of the species dropping dramatically continent-wide as they are slaughtered , often illegally and in horrendous circumstances , for their skins . This , in turn , has major implications for subsistence
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8 www . sasmallholder . co . za
Salted skins draped over branches to dry in the sun