Attack of the Cute
The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) responded to a tip earlier this week which led to the horrific discovery of more than 1000 animal skins on a plot in Benoni, a city in the South African province of Gauteng.
As reported by the Benoni City Times, after obtaining a warrant to search the Benoni Agricultural Holdings property, NSPCA inspectors along with the local SPCA found donkey skins totaling more than 1000 tied together with wire. Skins from seven tigers that were concealed between the donkey skins were also recovered as was paraphernalia linked to the illegal donkey skin trade.
Benoni City Times
While the perpetrators managed to flee the scene, the NSPCA confirmed that it was taking further legal action and consulting the relevant authorities.
According to a statement from the NSPCA, the donkeys were hacked behind the neck, presumably to paralyze them before the skin was heinously removed from their bodies. The organization further explained that in previous donkey skin cases, the animals were believed to be alive, but paralyzed or unconscious, while succumbing to the skinning.
“The horrible donkey skin trade must come to an end,” said senior inspector Grace de Lange, manager at the SPCA Farm Animal Protection Unit who urged the public to report such matters to the organization. “These animals suffer a horrendous and barbaric death.”
In January, reportedly between 300 and 400 donkey skins were discovered at another property in Benoni and in February, 300 skins were confiscated at the OR Tambo International Airport before they could be smuggled to their final destination in Hong Kong.
