The Federal Court decided to suspend the slaughter of donkeys in Brazil for export to China. The measure was taken by 10 of the 13 judges of the Special Court of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1), in Brasília, on Thursday night (3).
Since 2016, Brazil has been exporting animal hides for the production of a medicine known as ejiao, which is quite popular in China. There is no scientific proof that it works, but in the Asian country, ejiao is used with the promise of treating various health problems, such as irregular menstruation, anemia, insomnia and even sexual impotence. It is consumed in a variety of ways, such as in teas and cakes.
To manufacture the product, the animals are collected from the caatinga and rural areas of the Northeast in large volumes, without there being a production chain that renews the herd, as is the case with cattle. That is, they are slaughtered at a speed greater than their reproduction capacity, which sparked an alert that the donkey population could be eliminated in the coming years in the Northeast.
At the end of December, a report by BBC News Brasil showed that cities in south-central Bahia had become economically dependent on the slaughter of donkeys. However, the sector grew in line with the increase in hunger and poverty in a region historically already punished by these problems, in addition to complaints of mistreatment, contamination of animals by glanders (a deadly disease), work analogous to slavery and abandonment of donkeys to death by starvation.
The TRF-1 decision is another legal step in an action that has been running since 2018, when animal rights organizations filed a lawsuit requesting the ban. At first, the Justice of Bahia granted an injunction prohibiting slaughter in the state.
In 2019, however, the measure was suspended by Kassio Nunes Marques, now Minister of the STF and at the time judge of the TRF-1. He released the slaughter once again, following a request from the state and federal governments, as well as the Amargosa city hall, where the largest slaughterhouse for donkeys in the country operates.
The magistrate agreed with the argument that the ban on the market harmed the economy of the municipality and Bahia.
This Thursday, most of the judges of the TRF-1 refuted this argument, claiming that the Amargosa city hall was unable to prove the alleged economic losses caused by the initial suspension of the sector.
“It hasn’t been shown [no argumento] the existence of a serious injury to the public economy”, said judge Carlos Eduardo Moreira Alves, who voted for the new suspension. “There is no news that there is traceability in production chains or something similar to what happens with the slaughter of cattle”, he said.
Judge Carlos Augusto Pires Brandão, who also voted for the suspension, cited the cultural importance of the donkey for the Brazilian Northeast.
“What can be seen in the records is that the export comes from an animal that is closely associated with our traditions, our colonization and our insertion in the interior of Brazil”, he said.
“There are songs and poems about the donkey. There is a song by Luiz Gonzaga [Apologia ao Jumento] who says that the animal is our brother, who reports this closeness of the donkey as a pet. Imagine if we start exporting dog and cat meat to other cultures that don’t have this closeness to the animal,” he said.
The decision was celebrated by activists who have fought the ejiao market in Brazil for years.
“We received the decision with great happiness, with the feeling that it is worth fighting for what is right. The slaughter of donkeys is unacceptable from an ethical, environmental and cultural point of view. There is no reason to exterminate an animal that is part of our history, a species with so many affective ties with Brazil”, says lawyer Gislane Brandão, general coordinator of the National Front for the Defense of Donkeys, one of the entities that filed a lawsuit against the sector.
The suspension of slaughter is valid for the entire national territory, but there is still an appeal. In addition, there are other legal proceedings and investigations by the Public Ministry on this market.
profitable market
It is estimated that the ejiao market moves billions of dollars a year. A piece of donkey leather, for example, can be sold in China for up to US$ 4,000 (about R$ 22,600) — a box of ejiao costs R$ 750. In Brazil, trade prices are much smaller — donkeys are traded for R$20 in the northeastern backlands, and then passed on to the Chinese, as BBC News Brasil showed in December.
The high demand and profitability made Chinese businessmen look to Brazil, a country with an abundant population of donkeys — in 2013, there were 900,000 of them, most of them in the Northeast, according to the IBGE. Today, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa), there are around 400,000. Between 2010 and 2014, Brazil slaughtered 1,000 donkeys – between 2015 and 2019, there were 91,600.
In a recent report, the Regional Council of Veterinary Medicine of Bahia (CRMV-BA) stated that, without a production chain, the pace of slaughter and the Chinese demand for ejiao could practically decimate the donkey population in the Northeast in a few years.
In Amargosa alone, 4,800 animals are slaughtered per month — 57,600 per year. There are two other slaughterhouses with permission to operate in the cities of Simões Filho and Itapetinga, also in Bahia.
With 40,000 inhabitants, Amargosa is the final stop for the northeastern donkey before it is slaughtered and exported to become medicine in China. Since 2017, the municipality has housed the Frinordeste meatpacking plant, the place where most donkeys are slaughtered in the country. It is commanded by the Chinese Ran Yang and Zhen Yongwei, both residing abroad, and by the Brazilian Alex Franco Bastos.
In a recent interview with BBC News Brasil, the mayor of Amargosa, Júlio Pinheiro (PT), stated that the sector is the third largest employer in the city, after the city hall itself and a shoe factory. For him, the recent market is fundamental for the city’s economy, generating about 150 direct jobs, in addition to income and taxes.
“The refrigerator has helped to generate income and direct jobs, even more so at such a complicated time in the country’s economy, especially with the pandemic. The refrigerator has been the support of hundreds of families here in the city”, said Pinheiro.
BBC News Brasil tried to listen to the fridge, but got no response.
donkey population
The ejiao market is accused by authorities and activists of acting in an extractive manner. That is, he goes to where the animals are abundant, slaughters most of the population and leaves the place. It even affected the donkey population in China itself, according to a study by researchers Richard Bennett and Simone Pfuderer, from the University of Reading, in the United Kingdom.
In 2000, the country had around 9 million head – in 2016, the number dropped to 2 million. In 2000, the annual production of eijiao was 1.2 tons – in 2016, it was 5 tons. It is estimated that the country needs 5 million donkey skins a year, but since 2017, the internal stock is no longer able to meet the demand.
The solution for part of the Chinese business community was to look for animals in other countries, such as Kyrgyzstan, which has lost 57% of its herd since 2017, according to a study by the NGO The Donkey Sanctuary. Countries such as Mali, Ghana and Ethiopia have recently banned culling, although it still takes place clandestinely.
Source: Folha
