Skip to main content
University of Oxford Saïd Business School 25

Top menu

  • Oxford Answers

Main navigation

Main menu
  • Research
    Research
    • Research overview
      Research overview
      • Research seminars
      • Research strategy
    • Research areas
      Research areas
      • Accounting
      • Finance
      • Health Care
      • Impact
      • Innovation
      • International Business
      • Management Science
      • Marketing
      • Major Programme Management
      • Organisation Studies
      • Professional Service Firms
      • Strategy
      • Technology and Operations Management
    • Centres and initiatives
      Centres and initiatives
      • Creative Destruction Lab Oxford
      • Entrepreneurship Centre
      • Oxford Future of Finance and Technology Initiative
      • Oxford Future of Marketing Initiative
      • Oxford Future of Real Estate Initiative
      • Oxford Initiative on AI×SDGs
      • Oxford Initiative on Rethinking Performance
      • Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation
      • Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation
      • Private Equity Institute
      • Responsible Business
      • Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
    • Networks
      Networks
      • CABDyN
      • Oxford Institute of Retail Management
  • Oxford experience
    Oxford experience
    • Coming to Oxford
      Coming to Oxford
      • College experience
      • Living costs
      • Partners and families
      • Visas
    • Scholarships and funding
    • Life at Oxford
      Life at Oxford
      • Learning at Oxford
      • Exploring Oxford
      • Activities, clubs and groups
      • Oxford Union
    • Career development
      Career development
      • Your career journey
      • Our expertise
    • Life after Oxford
      Life after Oxford
      • Alumni
      • Elumni
    • Blogs
  • Events
    Events
    • Events listing
    • Future of Business
    • Past events
    • Oxford Smart Space
  • About us
    About us
    • The School
      The School
      • Our history
      • Senior leadership
      • Our community
      • Diversity and inclusion
      • Sustainability
      • Rankings, achievements and accreditation
      • Global Leadership Centre
      • Covid-19 information
    • Support us
      Support us
      • Fundraising priorities
      • Donate online
      • How to give
      • Corporate partnerships
      • Community giving
      • Impact and recognition
    • Our people
      Our people
      • Faculty
      • Associate Fellows
      • Academic visitors
      • Recruit our graduates
      • Work for us
    • News
      News
      • Media coverage
      • Media relations contacts
    • Venue hire
      Venue hire
      • Park End Street
      • Egrove Park
      • B&B accommodation at Egrove Park
      • Our services
  • Programmes
    Programmes
    • MBAs
      MBAs
      • MBA
      • 1+1 MBA
      • Executive MBA
    • Degrees
      Degrees
      • BA Economics and Management
      • DPhil Finance
      • DPhil Management
      • MSc Financial Economics
      • MSc Global Healthcare Leadership
      • MSc Law and Finance
      • MSc Major Programme Management
    • Executive Diplomas
      Executive Diplomas
      • Artificial Intelligence for Business
      • Financial Strategy
      • Global Business
      • Organisational Leadership
      • Strategy and Innovation
    • Executive Education
      Executive Education
      • On-campus open programmes
      • Online programmes
      • ​Custom programmes
    • Programme finder
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Research finds that donkey skins may act as a cover for illegal wildlife trade
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Research finds that donkey skins may act as a cover for illegal wildlife trade
""

Research finds that donkey skins may act as a cover for illegal wildlife trade

Fri, 6th May 2022

Published


Related news

  • Research

Newly published research raises important concerns about whether the trade in donkey skins is being used as a cover for smuggling illegal wildlife products.

The research, published today in Conservation Science and Practice, reveals novel links between the global trade in donkey skins and the wildlife trade. The study, carried out by an interdisciplinary team from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), suggests that these two trades operate in parallel, creating new avenues and transportation pathways for wildlife trade.

Globally, wildlife is the basis of a multi-billion-dollar trade, much of which is legal, but an illegal component funds one of the most lucrative sectors of international crime. It is estimated that at least 20% of vertebrate species are affected by wildlife trade and overexploitation is a key driver of biodiversity loss, including for species such as rhino, pangolins and parrots.

Over the past few years, concern has increased over the possible link between the donkey skin and wildlife trades, with wildlife traffickers potentially using the legally complex donkey skin trade as a cover for smuggling illegal wildlife products. 

To investigate this concern, a team of researchers from Saïd Business School and WildCRU identified 7 large-scale Business to Business ecommerce websites, all of which offered donkey hides for sale on their platform. They then identified 382 vendors from 55 countries who sold donkey skins on these platforms and downloaded the full product lists offered by each vendor in an attempt to identify which clusters of products are frequently traded together.

 

 


Related news

  • Research

Stronger monitoring and enforcement of the legally complex trade in donkey skins may have benefits for wildlife conservation

Ewan Macdonald

Postdoctoral research fellow

Almost 20% of all donkey skin traders were found to sell some form of wildlife product, with some found to offer CITES listed species (CITES is an international treaty that aims to ensure wildlife trade does not threaten the survival of species in the wild). Wildlife and donkey products were also often found clustered together with a wider range of products associated with the agricultural market.

The team then created a database of publicly available records of customs seizures, which revealed that donkey skins are often seized alongside other wildlife products, including elephant tusks, pangolin scales and tiger parts. This suggests that these products were not only co-offered by the merchants but also moved together in the market.

Ewan Macdonald, Postdoctoral research fellow at Saïd Business School and co-author of theThe Link Between Wildlife Trade and the Global Donkey Skin Product Network said: ‘Just as with traders everywhere, we assume that the traders in our network are attempting to maximise profits and are subject to wider market forces. As such they are more likely to sell clusters of products that are frequently bought or sold together.

More research is needed to uncover the drivers of these relationships, however in the meantime stronger monitoring and enforcement of the legally complex trade in donkey skins may have benefits for wildlife conservation, particularly if targeted at shipping and transportation hubs. Interestingly many of the species detected as being sold alongside donkey skins did not show up in the seizure database, possibly suggesting that this database represents only the tip of the iceberg.’

""
""

The trade in donkey skins is largely driven by demand for E-jiao, a popular form of traditional Chinese medicine, made from the gelatine in donkey skins and thought to boost the immune system and treat insomnia among other benefits.  Rising economic development in China has caused a dramatic increase in demand for E-jiao and the Chinese domestic supply of donkey skins is unable to keep up.  Consequently, E-jiao producers have had to source skins through international trade, which has driven prices up and has made the trade attractive to criminals.

Building on the evidence presented in this paper, the project’s funders, The Donkey Sanctuary, has today released a wider report that explores the implications of this trade.

Our findings provide important insights into the dynamics of the wildlife trade and suggest that better regulation of the donkey skin trade could benefit wildlife conservation.

Shan Su

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr Shan Su, Postdoctoal Researcher at WildCRU and co-author said: ‘I am delighted that the Donkey Sanctuary has made use of our research findings in their report. It is wonderful to see that our work is making an impact in the world.

The illegal wildlife trade is a lucrative business, but many aspects of this trade remain obscure. We investigated the alleged links between the wildlife trade and the trade in donkey skins. Our findings provide important insights into the dynamics of the wildlife trade and suggest that better regulation of the donkey skin trade could benefit wildlife conservation.’

Read the ‘The Link Between Wildlife Trade and the Global Donkey Skin Product Network’ – on the Conservation Science and Practice website.  

Footer menu

  • Contact us
  • Find us
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Website policies
  • Alumni
  • Donate
  • Covid-19

Follow us

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • WeChat
  • Blogs
  • Advance HE Opens in new tab
  • EFMD Equis accreditations Opens in new tab
  • Global Network for Advanced Management Opens in new tab

Website & Privacy Policies © Saïd Business School 2023 All rights reserved

Back to top