Over six million donkeys are brutally slaughtered every year to make a Chinese youth serum, a charity has warned.
The animals are killed for their hides, which are boiled down to make ‘ejiao’ – a gelatine-like substance traditionally believed to help prevent the effects of ageing.
Growing demand for this unproven ‘miracle’ cure has created a booming illegal donkey hide trade in Africa.
Donkeys are often stolen for families who rely on them for their livelihoods, walked to exhaustion, and then bludgeoned with clubs before having their throats slit.
Their hides are then stripped and shipped to China, where ejiao is produced on an industrial scale before being sold legally on platforms like Amazon and Etsy.
In a new documentary, titled ‘From Skin to Skincare’, the animal charity Brooke and Dr Scott Miller of This Morning warn that the trade could wipe out Africa’s donkey population.
Dr Miller said: ‘Despite knowing the horrors of the donkey skin trade before visiting the Brooke teams in Africa, I was not prepared for what I witnessed.
‘Stepping over the skulls of donkeys who had been beaten to death is something I will never forget.’
Ejiao is a traditional Chinese medicine which has been produced for over 2,000 years as an alleged cure for anaemia, insomnia, dizziness, and even cancer.
While it had historically been considered a luxury product, available only to the extremely rich, China’s rapidly growing middle class has driven a massive increase in demand.
According to some reports, the Chinese market for ejiao grew from $3.2 billion (£2.4 billion) in 2013 to $7.8 billion (£5.8 billion) in 2021.
Despite the African Union making it illegal to slaughter donkeys for their skin in 2024, the illegal trade has continued to kill millions of donkeys for ejiao production.
These animals are often kept in appalling conditions prior to their deaths, which are frequently highly inhumane.
Speaking in Brooke’s upcoming documentary, one man involved in the illegal trade said that the animals were bludgeoned with axes to stun them before cutting their throats.
‘These gentle creatures often face a grim fate, being stolen or sold under duress,’ says Dr Miller.
‘They endure long, gruelling journeys without food, water or rest, only to be brutally slaughtered at the end.’
If the ban is not enforced, Brooke’s research suggests that Africa’s donkeys could be entirely wiped out.
Globally, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations found that the global donkey population increased from 51.7 million to 53 million from 2019 to 2021.
However, a report submitted to the US Congress in 2023 warned that large increases in countries like Ethiopia could be hiding a massive population decline in other areas.
For example, in Botswana, the donkey population plummeted by around 70 per cent between 2011 and 2021, falling from 351,421 to 104,536.
In the next 15 years, Brooke predicts that Africa’s donkey population will decline from 27 million to just 14 million.
Dr Raphael Kinoti, director of Brooke in East Africa, says: ‘The donkey skin trade is an existential threat to an entire species and must be stopped.’
As the demand for ejiao continues to climb, critically endangered African wild donkeys are increasingly being smuggled alongside domestic animals.
This puts the wild donkeys at a growing risk of extinction and promotes the spread of zoonotic diseases across international borders.
Cases of equine influenza, African horse sickness, and encephalosis viruses have all been linked to the transport of live donkeys.
The illegal hide trade for ejiao doesn’t just harm donkeys, but also hurts the people who rely on them.
Since the ban came into effect, the price of donkey hide has now become so high that many animals are stolen from farms to be slaughtered.
These donkeys play essential roles in rural communities, carrying goods and water over long distances.
Without a donkey, these tasks frequently fall to the women and children of the household.
Meaning children are unable to attend school, and women are unable to find more lucrative work.
Chris Wainwright, chief executive of Brooke, says: ‘There is a horrific impact on donkeys and causes communities to lose their livelihoods.
‘It is one of the biggest animal welfare and socio-economic threats of our age, and we urgently need to secure a global ban.’
What is ejiao?
Ejiao (阿胶) is a traditional Chinese medicine made from boiling down donkey skins and has been used in the country for more than 2,500 years.
The health product, in a form of a hard gel, can be dissolved in hot water or alcohol to be used in food or drink.
It’s believed that ejiao could improve blood circulation, and thus it’s often used as a blood tonic by people with anaemia, according to Tong Ren Tang, the largest producer of traditional Chinese medicine in China.
It can also help with respiratory problems such as coughing as well as with skin conditions including acne.
Some even claimed that it has anti-ageing properties and could help prevent cancer and improve your libido.
It is also now used as an ingredient in face creams, dessert and alcohol.
A check on Taobao, China’s largest online shopping platform, shows that 250 grams of the luxury health product is sold for more than 1,000 yuan (£117).
