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Every day, at least 400 donkeys are killed in Kenya to fuel China’s demand for ejiao – a cosmetic ingredient and traditional medicine made by boiling down donkey skins.
More than 50% of Kenya’s donkeys have already been wiped out. Unless we act, the animals could disappear from the country in just 10 years.
Despite a continent-wide ban by the African Union on the slaughter of donkeys for their skins, weak enforcement, porous borders and organized criminal networks have driven the trade underground, allowing illegal slaughter to continue unchecked.
Donkeys are stolen in the dead of night, smuggled into remote areas and brutally killed, their skins shipped to China and their meat sold on the black market to unsuspecting Kenyan consumers.
Traffickers show no mercy – donkeys are tortured before being slaughtered and skinned for ejiao, a Chinese cosmetic. Credit: CGTN and KSPCA
Traffickers do not care about the animals’ suffering; whether a donkey is tortured and abused or not has no effect on the skin’s selling price. Donkeys en route to be slaughtered are beaten, starved and slashed with machetes. Some even have their legs broken before being piled into overcrowded vehicles to be transported to their death. Many do not survive the journey.
Not even pregnant mares and young foals are spared.
And the reward for all this cruelty? Just $130 (£96) per skin. That is all it takes to end hundreds of thousands of donkey lives, pushing the animals closer to extinction by the day.
The donkey skin trade is evil to its core. But we are fighting back – and you can help us stop the slaughter and save the animals.
Donkeys rescued from slaughter for the skin trade in Kenya are guaranteed to suffer extreme physical and psychological trauma. Credit: KSPCA
Our partner, the Kenya Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (KSPCA), is one of the few organizations legally empowered to rescue these donkeys – transporting them to safety, providing them with life-saving care and working alongside the authorities to bring traffickers to justice.
Over the past year, our team has rescued 528 donkeys destined for slaughter. While many have been rehomed, 248 donkeys – all survivors of the skin trade – are still in the care of the KSPCA shelter and its foster network. The animals are currently being held as evidence and cannot be rehomed until investigations and lengthy legal proceedings by the authorities are complete.
But space, food and funds are running out.
The KSPCA shelter and donkey foster network are at critical capacity, and 248 traumatized donkey survivors of the skin trade desperately need your help.
Those "lucky" enough to escape the donkey skin trade often suffer horrific injuries – machete wounds, broken legs and extreme emaciation from being starved. Credit: KSCPA
These donkeys have been through hell. They need food, veterinary care, safe shelter and enhanced security to protect them against criminals dead-set on stealing and slaughtering them for the trade. And once they are no longer required to be held by the courts, they need to be healthy enough to be rehomed – so our team can rescue even more donkeys from this horrific illegal trade.
With your support, we will help provide these donkeys with the care they need following the horrors they have endured, while fighting for stronger enforcement of the slaughter ban and training local police to ensure traffickers are brought to justice.
We will never stop rescuing and caring for donkey survivors of the vile skin trade. And we will never stop fighting for a future where no donkey suffers. But we cannot do it without you.
Your donation could be the difference between life and death – between extinction and survival – for vulnerable donkeys in Kenya.
For the animals,
P.S. A donkey’s life is worth just $130 (£96) to skin traders, but to us, the animals are priceless. Please help us fight to stop the slaughter of donkeys while rushing critically needed food, care, shelter and protection to rescued animals who have survived unimaginable cruelty.
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