But local concerns about the trade persist, based largely on reports of animals going missing or being kept in residential areas ill-fitted to livestock, as well as talk of unidentified traders offering up to 10,000 soms per head. "Nobody knows who is involved, and the authorities don't care," local people told Turmush , despite the council insisting that it can account for all exported livestock. This reflects a wider debate in Kyrgyzstan about exporting donkeys to China. Chinese media are reporting a big drive to import donkeys because of a domestic shortage that has racked up the price of gelatin, which is extracted from skins for use in traditional medicine.