TERRITORY donkeys could soon be helping to increase the sex drive of Chinese women.
A Hong Kong company is trying to locate up to a million donkey skins every year to be used in the making of traditional medicines.
To date, the company has been sourcing these skins from South America, but has recently turned its attention to Australia.
Sydney-based exporter John Fleming wants to hunt feral donkeys in the Northern Territory to sell overseas.
"They want the skins, but not for leather.
"Apparently there is a certain extract in the skin they can use for traditional medicine,'' he said.
Mr Fleming said he did not know what the type of medicines would be produced.
Chinese traditional healers are known to use donkey skins to extract Ejiao.
This extract can be used to make Nu Bao, a traditional Chinese medicine which is meant to improve vitality, increase a woman's libido and help with period pain.
"They're after a lot of donkey skins. As much as they can get their hands on,'' Mr Fleming said.
Mr Fleming and a business partner recently drove to the Territory from Queensland and started asking locals about feral donkeys.
"It seems there are a lot of feral donkeys out there and people are basically shooting them for sport,'' he said.
There are an estimated 300,000 feral donkeys in the Northern Territory.
Mr Fleming believes their hides would be worth around US$30 each.
"We need to get a handle on how much they would pay.
We need to make sure it would be cost effective,'' he said.
Source