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Global · Donkey welfare threat

Donkey Skin Trade

What the donkey skin trade is, why it threatens donkey welfare and livelihoods, and how working-donkey protection reduces exploitation risk.

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Working donkey at risk from welfare neglect and exploitative trade

In brief

The donkey skin trade kills donkeys for hides used in ejiao, driving theft, slaughter and population pressure in countries where poor families depend on working donkeys.

Ejiao

Demand driver

Hides

Trade product

Theft

Welfare and livelihood risk

Bans

Policy response in some regions

Guide 1

What Is the Donkey Skin Trade?

The donkey skin trade supplies hides used to make ejiao, a gelatine product used in traditional medicine and consumer goods. Rising demand has placed pressure on donkey populations and created incentives for theft, illegal slaughter and cross-border trafficking.

Guide 2

Why It Hurts Poor Communities

For many low-income households, a donkey is transport, income and resilience. Losing a donkey to theft or slaughter can remove the family’s ability to carry water, reach markets or earn daily wages.

Guide 3

How Welfare Work Helps

Protecting working donkeys requires veterinary care, owner support, community awareness and enforcement against theft and illegal slaughter. Healthy, valued donkeys are less likely to be abandoned or sold under pressure.

Guide 4

Ejiao and the Global Donkey Skin Trade

Ejiao is a gelatin product made from donkey hides, used in some traditional medicine markets. Demand has driven mass theft and slaughter of working donkeys across Africa and Asia — collapsing rural economies that depend on donkey labour.

Guide 5

Protecting Working Donkeys from Theft

WARN's working donkey programme in Pakistan includes community awareness and veterinary support that indirectly protects against theft — healthy, identifiable working donkeys with owner networks are harder targets. See working donkeys appeal.

Guide 6

Why UK Donors Choose WARN — Transparent Partner Grants

WARN is a registered UK Community Interest Company (Company no. 17298990) and is not a charity, so it cannot claim Gift Aid. The donation case is transparent partner-led welfare where support reaches practical field needs. WARN states upfront that gifts fund WARN's 17-country partner network across South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Africa, Southern Africa and South America programmes through vetted local partners — not WARN-run sanctuaries. Every gift is receipted; give one-off at donate or monthly at monthly giving.

Explore Related Rescue Work

Country programme

Pakistan

Pakistan is a South Asian country where WARN's planned work focuses on humane street-dog management in Karachi and Lahore through catch-neuter-vaccinate-release clinics, mobile working-equine clinics in industrial districts, and supporting partner work on the snow leopard in the country's high north.

Country programme

Kenya

Kenya is an East African country where WARN's planned work focuses on snare-removal patrols and rapid-response veterinary darting in the Tsavo and Maasai Mara ecosystems, sea-turtle triage on the Indian Ocean coast, and supporting partner work on lion, elephant, rhino, cheetah and African wild dog welfare.

Country programme

Tanzania

Tanzania is an East African country whose Selous-Niassa corridor forms one of the largest contiguous protected wildlife landscapes in Africa; WARN's planned work supports ranger anti-poaching patrols, community veterinary outreach, and rapid-response field medicine for wildlife caught in snares.

Country programme

India

India is a South Asian country that holds roughly 70% of the world's wild tigers, the largest population of Asian elephants, and the great majority of greater one-horned rhinos, alongside leopards, sloth bears and pangolins; its wildlife faces intense human-wildlife conflict, habitat fragmentation and trafficking of skins, bone and scales.

Source Notes

WARN uses named intergovernmental, conservation and animal-welfare sources for numeric claims. These notes summarise the source basis for this page.

Working equine welfare sector

The donkey skin trade is widely documented as a major welfare and livelihood threat.

African Union policy reporting

The African Union endorsed a continental ban on donkey slaughter for skins in 2024.

International animal welfare reporting

Donkey hide demand has been associated with theft, slaughter and population pressure in several regions.

Donkey Skin Trade: Frequently Asked Questions

What is ejiao?
Ejiao is a gelatine product traditionally made from donkey hides and used in some medicine and consumer markets.
Why is the donkey skin trade a welfare issue?
It can drive theft, transport stress, illegal slaughter and population pressure in communities that depend on donkeys.
How can donors help?
Donors can fund working-donkey welfare, veterinary care, community protection and advocacy against exploitative trade routes.
What is ejiao?
A gelatin product from donkey hides used in some traditional medicine markets — driving a global skin trade that threatens working donkey populations.
Can UK donors help stop the donkey skin trade?
Fund working donkey welfare at working donkeys appeal — protecting livelihoods and raising awareness of theft risks.
Which countries are affected?
Africa and Asia face the worst theft pressure. Pakistan working donkeys are within WARN's funded focus.
Is the donkey skin trade legal?
Regulations vary. Many countries have banned or restricted exports, but illegal trade continues through criminal networks.
Is WARN a registered charity?
World Animal Rescue Network (WARN) is World Animal Rescue Network CIC (Company number 17298990), a registered UK Community Interest Company — not a registered charity. See registration status for full legal identity.

Help Fund Frontline Rescue

World Animal Rescue Network CIC (Company no. 17298990) raises funds for established local partners. Your support helps build the rescue capacity these animals need.

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