The global trade in donkey skins to produce ejiao, a traditional Chinese medicine ingredient, is causing rapid population collapses across Africa and Asia.
The donkey skin trade creates a cascading welfare crisis that begins with the individual welfare harm of capture, transport, and slaughter in unregulated supply chains and extends to the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on donkeys for their economic survival. Donkeys that are stolen are often transported long distances without food, water, or adequate care, and slaughtered without any welfare provisions. The population collapse in source countries then removes the working animals that farming communities depend on, creating secondary welfare harm through increased human labour burden and reduced agricultural capacity. The welfare of working donkeys and the welfare of the human communities they support are inseparably linked, making the skin trade a development crisis alongside an animal welfare one.