skin

The link between wildlife trade and the global donkey skin product network

Unsustainable global wildlife trade impacts biodiversity and threatens national and global security, but many aspects of this trade remain opaque. Our study is a novel investigation of the alleged links between the trade in wildlife products and in donkey skins. The global donkey skin trade is a newly prevalent and lucrative business, largely driven by Chinese demand for E-Jiao, a traditional medicine derived from donkey skins. Records of donkey skins being seized alongside other wildlife products lead us to hypothesize that there is a link between these two trades. We identified all donkey skin dealers on seven business-to-business e-commerce websites and obtained 14,949 data points. These were used in a network analysis to demonstrate the structure of the network and reveal the connection between the products, including wild animal and plant products offered alongside donkey skins. We identified at least 13 groups of CITES-listed species in the densely connected donkey skin product network, demonstrated an association between the online trade in wildlife products and donkey skins, and discuss the implications of this overlap—including the potential to shed light on potential novel trade pathways in legal and illegal domestic animal and wildlife trade.

Volume
4
Issue
6
Publication date
Research output

Use of sterile maggots to treat panniculitis in an aged donkey

An aged female donkey developed a severe, localised, suppurative panniculitis secondary to a skin wound. Bacterial culture of swabs taken from the wound gave a profuse growth of multi-drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a profuse growth of Escherichia coli and a moderate growth of beta-haemolytic Streptococcus species. The lesion did not respond to conventional medical and surgical treatment and continued to progress. Six applications of sterile larvae (maggots) of the common greenbottle, Lucilia sericata, were used to debride the wound successfully.

Volume
149
Start page
768
End page
770
Publication date
Keywords
Country

Besnoitiosis in a European donkey

Cynthia de Vries
A. Santi
Karen Rickards
G. Loesenbeck
Presentation date

Introduction

A 3-year-old castrated male donkey was presented with multifocal, moderately firm, dull, white nodules, varying in size from 0.5-2.0 cm in diameter. The nodules were located on the skin of the penile shaft and showed depigmentation. Other locations on the body were not involved.

Materials and methods

Surgical excision of the nodules was performed. All formalin-fixed samples were embedded in paraffin and routinely processed for histopathological examination.

Results

Histopathological examination revealed presence of multifocal, round to oval, protozoal cysts within the dermis, with a size of 150-500 μm. The mature cyst walls consisted of four distinct layers, including an outer, hyalinized, eosinophilic layer of collagen fibers, a thin homogenous intermediate layer, a layer consisting of the cytoplasm of the host fibroblast with a compressed nucleus, and an inner layer that formed the parasitophorous vacuole. The vacuole was filled with numerous bradyzoites of 2 x 8 μm. There was a mild to moderate, superficial to mid-dermal infiltration of lymphocytes, plasma cells, macrophages and eosinophils, surrounding the cysts and blood vessels. The hair follicles were atrophic. The overlying epidermis showed mild acanthosis and orthokeratotic hyperkeratosis. Based on the histopathological findings, a diagnosis of Besnoitia sp. infection was made.

Conclusions

Besnoitiosis is an emerging disease in cattle in Europe. Few outbreaks have been reported in donkeys in the USA. To our knowledge, this is the first report in the literature of Besnoitia sp. infection in an European donkey.

Not published as conference proceedings
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