Amazon is Being Sued for Selling Donkey Skin

THINK

Mar 9

A new lawsuit is suing Amazon for violating California state law for selling products containing “ejiao” or “donkey-hide gelatin,” an animal product made from donkey skin.

Amazon is being sued for violating California state law by selling products containing “ejiao” or “donkey-hide gelatin,” an animal product made from donkey skin.

The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Contemporary Equine Studies, comes after multiple efforts by advocacy groups, including Species Unite, to urge Amazon to stop selling products containing donkey skin. While retailers including Walmart and eBay have agreed to ditch items containing ejiao and ban future listings, Amazon is yet to listen to the public outrage.

Each year, approximately 4.8 million donkeys are killed for their skins to fulfill the global demand for ejiao, a gelatinous substance produced by boiling donkey hides, which is utilized in cosmetics, traditional Chinese medicine, and candy. This has led to a significant reduction in the number of donkeys, especially in Africa.

Listed under names like Chinese Special Snack Seedless, Ass Hide Glue Lumps, and Ejiao Slice, Amazon currently offers at least fifteen edible items that claim to contain donkey, according to an investigation conducted by WIRED. Although all of the products were sold by third parties, at least four were available to ship from Amazon’s warehouses. The report also confirmed that consumers were ultimately able to purchase several ejiao products and successfully ship them to a California address.

*A slab of donkey-hide gelatin.* *Wikimedia Comms*

The law firm Evans & Page has filed the legal complaint on behalf of The Center for Contemporary Equine Studies, alleging that Amazon's sale of ejiao violates the Prohibition of Horse Slaughter and Sale of Horsemeat for Human Consumption Act, a California animal welfare law. The law, which came into effect in 1998, prohibits the sale of horsemeat for human consumption. The Center argues that the law applies to all equine animals, including donkeys, and therefore prohibits the sale of ejiao in the state.

If a court finds Amazon guilty, the company could be fined $1 million every day an ejiao product is sold in the state of California.

“We are a scientific organization and not in the business of national advocacy. We want the defendants to stop selling ejiao because it’s illegal,” Frank Rothschild, director of the Center for Contemporary Equine Studies, said in a statement. “That’s the law.”

Amazon came under fire for a similar California law violation in 2018 when the retailer continued to sell foie gras to the state despite a law banning the controversial liver pâté. Amazon subsequently stopped sales of the product and paid $100,000 in civil penalties.

Five million donkeys are killed a year in this brutal trade and the numbers are steadily going up. Donkeys only give birth to one foal a year and at this rate of slaughter, they are at risk of going extinct within just four years.

The donkeys trapped in this horrific industry are often beaten to death with sledgehammers and sometimes skinned alive so that their hides can be turned into a gelatin referred to as ejiao and used in pseudoscientific Chinese medicine.

A petition by animal rights media group Species Unite has been calling on Amazon to prohibit all sales of ejiao.

“American consumers can currently buy products containing donkey skin gelatin (ejiao) on Amazon Prime. There are multiple different sellers offering items containing this product derived from the kidnapping, torture and killing of innocent donkeys. This is unacceptable,” reads the Species Unite petition. “We must hold private businesses accountable for participating in and supporting this unthinkable cruelty.”

What Can You Do?

Species Unite has been working to shine a light on and rally strong opposition against the donkey skin trade through our hard-hitting petitions and content - the more global attention this issue gets, the more chance we have of ending the trade for good. Please sign and share our petition telling Amazon to stop supporting the donkey skin trade.

As well as demanding Amazon stop selling products containing donkey skin gelatin, Species Unite is also pushing for Congress to pass H.R. 5203 - The Ejiao Act. If successful, this bill will amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ban the knowing sale or transport of ejiao or products containing ejiao in interstate or foreign commerce.

In an interconnected world where supply is based on demand, we can make a difference here in the United States to help put a stop to this horrific international trade once and for all. Please join Species Unite in calling on Congress to pass the Ejiao Act by signing this petition.

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