Why are we funding the fight to end the Donkey Hide Crisis?
Donkeys are being slaughtered for their hides to meet an ever-increasing demand for Ejiao, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and beauty products. Ejiao is made from the gelatin produced from donkey hides but can also be made from plant-based ingredients.
For centuries, donkeys have been slaughtered in China for these products. Between 1990 and 2018, China’s donkey population shrunk from 11 million donkeys in China to 2.5 million. With their donkey population dwindling, demand has led to a search for a new supply of skins. This has caused an explosion of donkey smuggling and slaughtering across vulnerable communities all over the world and especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The result of the donkey hide trade is robbing donkeys of their lives and their owners, among the poorest on Earth of their means to earn a living and secure basic necessities like clean water, firewood and transportation.
Watch this video to learn more
The treatment of donkeys in this process is often gruesome and has a huge impact on the livelihoods of people in the areas we serve. Donkeys are being stolen, horrifically mistreated and cruelly slaughtered—sometimes in the brush or street just outside their owners’ property.
Not only are donkeys suffering and being killed at an unprecedented rate, but the loss of a donkey is crushing for the people who depend on these animals to survive. Families that lose a donkey can suffer colossal damage. By losing a donkey, many lose access to water, to earning money, to the ability to send their children to school, to putting food on the table—all setbacks that can plunge an already poor family even deeper into poverty.
Progress is happening! In February 2024 the African Union voted to ban ejiao exportation for fifteen years allowing donkey populations a chance to recover. However, it will take time for individual African Nations to write supporting legislation to implement and enforce the ban. Meanwhile the slaughter has gone underground in Africa and is expanding to other parts of the world, including Asia and Latin America.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
In the United States we are demanding that Amazon cease selling ejiao on its online platform and we are working on Federal legislation that would ban the importation and sale of ejiao in our country. Brooke USA is committed to changing laws, protecting the innocent donkey owners, and safeguarding the donkeys—but we can’t do it without you.
Our sister organization, Brooke, already has teams working on the ground across Africa. Partners are working with us in this fight. Local communities are crying out for support. And we need to continue to help.
Please, give what you can today to help end this terrible trade. The reports (and photos) of what are being done to these animals are devastating. We need to stop the slaughter, ban the trade, and save the millions of lives that this brutal practice puts at risk.
You can help by donating to the cause
Out of respect for your sensitivity and passion for equines, we have made a choice not to share any photos of the slaughter with you. These images are very graphic and distressing. However, we can make them available to you should you want to use them as a tool to inform others.
Please reach out to:
DO THEY DESERVE TO SUFFER? DONATE TODAY TO STOP THE THEFT & SLAUGHTER.
