Victory! African Union Bans the Donkey Skin Trade
This past weekend marked an incredible victory for animals as the African Union officially banned the donkey skin trade! The ban will make it illegal to slaughter donkeys for their skins in all of Africa and will finally put a stop to the destructive and cruel donkey skin trade in Kenya that Species Unite has been working for years to end.
This incredible victory for donkeys will put increased pressure on countries and businesses globally that profit from this horrific trade to do the right thing, and it is a major step towards breaking this international chain of suffering and death.
This win would not have been possible without the hard work of animal welfare organizations putting pressure on elected officials across the globe to stand up against horrific animal cruelty, and we are so thankful that this community has helped us be a part of this monumental victory for animals.
Thank you so much to the 31,318 supporters who spoke out to help ban the ejiao trade in Kenya. We know that together we will keep fighting until donkeys everywhere are safe from the cruelty of the donkey skin trade.
What You Fought Against
Millions of donkeys are slaughtered for their skins and exported every year to meet the demand for ejiao—a gelatin-based ingredient made from boiling donkey hides and used in cosmetics, candy, and traditional Chinese medicine.
Around 4.8 million donkey hides are required to satisfy the global demand for ejiao, resulting in steep declines in donkey populations around the world.
Investigations have uncovered rampant abuse in the donkey skin industry. These gentle creatures are loaded into cramped vehicles with no food or water. Many are sick or injured, and pregnant jennies often abort their fetuses during the grueling trip to the slaughterhouse. Those who do not starve or succumb to dehydration during the journey are killed by brutal methods, such as being bashed in the head with sledgehammers or violently beaten—some are even skinned alive.
In 2020, Kenya announced a ban on the slaughter of donkeys - but, in a tragic turn of events, this was overturned just a few months later. Kenya’s abattoirs were responsible for slaughtering hundreds of thousands of donkeys to help produce ejiao, and over the last four years, the donkey population has declined by over 66% from 1.8 million to less than 600,000.
Experts are concerned that donkeys will be “wiped out from the face of Kenya within the next two years.” What’s more, there are almost no laws against animal cruelty on farms or in slaughterhouses in Kenya, meaning the animals caught in the ejiao industry are subjected to cruel conditions and violent killing methods.