The sweet, gentle, hardworking donkey is in jeopardy of becoming extinct. It doesn't seem possible. What is it that donkeys have that has led to the appalling suffering that they have endured? Donkey-hide gelatin is what they want.
In China, it's call ejiao. It's the donkey skin and the gelatin under the skin that are used in Chinese medicine that the slaughterhouses want. Around the world, donkeys are being killed at an alarming rate. Multiple African countries have banned the export of donkey gelatin to China, including Niger, Uganda and Burkina Faso. The donkey population in China fell from 11 million in 1992 to 2.6 million in 2019. More than 10% of the global population (44 million) are killed every year.
Demand for ejiao has increased to the level that diseased animals, pregnant mares and young foals have all been harvested. The slow reproductive cycle of the donkey (one year) has made replenishing their population difficult. Donkeys have long served as pack animals in many parts of the developing world, and owning one has often lead a family out of poverty. But the demand for slaughtered animals has made acquiring them more difficult. The price of a donkey in Kenya, for example, has more than doubled in the last few years.
It seems that Chinese medicine has led to the destruction of millions of animals, causing so many to become close to extinct. Elephants, rhinos, monkeys, and now donkeys come to mind. The shame of it is that most of the Chinese remedies that these animals are poached or slaughtered for, don't do a damn thing!
It breaks my heart to read of the inhumane ways donkeys are treated on the way to the slaughterhouse. Fortunately some countries are passing laws prohibiting the trafficking of donkey skins and gelatin, and punishing offenders. There is so much to do to protect the donkey, and so many other endangered animals, from vanishing from this earth.
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