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A newly released video exposé reveals the dark side of the Chinese trade in donkey skins.
The investigation, by vegan charity PETA, shows what the organization describes as ‘horrific [animal] abuse in government-sanctioned abattoirs in Mogotio and Naivasha, Kenya’.
Ejiao
Donkey skins are boiled down to be used in drinks, sweets, and a traditional Chinese medicine called ejiao.
According to PETA, the ejiao industry annually produces over 4,500 tonnes of products containing the ingredient, and uses some 4 million donkey hides each year – half of which are imported into China from other countries, including Kenya, which has opened three new donkey abattoirs in the last three years alone in order to cater to this trade.
The charity says donkeys are ‘packed onto lorries and taken to the abattoirs from as far away as neighbouring countries – and the journey from the border with Ethiopia can take two days’. They are not given water or food during this time, with some dying as a result.
GRAPHIC: PETA’s video investigation
Animal suffering
The videos shows workers violently beating donkeys, who were crammed together so tightly that they could barely move. PETA Asia eyewitnesses say they say one donkey – who was so badly injured that she was unable to stand – dragged from a lorry, dumped on the ground, and kicked.
“While abattoirs cash in on the Chinese desire for ejiao, gentle donkeys are being tortured and killed,” PETA Director, Elisa Allen, said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.
“PETA calls on all kind people around the world to think of the terrified donkeys who suffer and die for the gelatine made from their skins and to refuse to buy any item that contains it.”
