Global demand for ejiao, a traditional Chinese medicine made from donkey hides, is driving a crisis of donkey theft, slaughter, and welfare abuse worldwide.
The donkey skin trade causes welfare suffering at multiple levels. Donkeys stolen or purchased under pressure are transported in overcrowded conditions without food or water. Slaughter conditions in unregulated facilities are often inhumane. The loss of working donkeys from communities that depend on them creates secondary suffering as people who relied on them for livelihoods face hardship. Some countries have banned ejiao imports in response.