Donkey Slaughter Banned After PETA Asia Investigation

Kenya Ends Donkey Killing for Skins Exported to China, Where the Boiled-Down Hides Are Used in Medicine, Cosmetics, and Candy

For Immediate Release:
February 27, 2020

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

After a PETA Asia investigation of government-sanctioned slaughterhouses in Kenya revealed that workers violently beat donkeys who were killed for a traditional Chinese medicine ingredient known as ejiao, Ministry of Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya has just ordered all donkey slaughterhouses in Kenya to be shut down by next month.

The move comes after more than 200,000 supporters of PETA and its affiliates petitioned Munya to end the donkey-skin trade, in which donkeys are packed onto transport trucks and forced to endure grueling journeys to slaughterhouses from as far away as neighboring countries. The trip from the border with Ethiopia can take two days, during which the animals aren’t given any water or food, and many collapse and even die. PETA Asia’s investigation found that workers left the bodies of two donkeys who had died during the long journey outside the slaughterhouse and dragged another one—who was injured so badly that she was unable to stand—from the truck, dumped her on the ground, and kicked her.

“We thank Kenyan officials for cutting ties with a hideously cruel trade that has sentenced millions of gentle donkeys to miserable deaths,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “No one needs donkey skin except the animals who were born in it, and PETA calls on kind people everywhere to refuse to buy any product containing donkey gelatin or ejiao.”

Pakistan and numerous African countries—including Botswana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda—have banned Chinese-funded slaughterhouses or implemented policies to stop the export of donkey skins to China. In addition, eBay, Walmart, Jet.com, and dozens of other companies have agreed to stop selling items containing ejiao.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. Photographs from the investigation are available here.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.