Hundreds of thousands of donkeys are stolen, slaughtered and skinned in Africa to feed China's demand for 'anti-ageing' medicine

  • WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT 
  • Known as 'ejiao', the Chinese medicine is made from boiling down donkey hide 
  • The ingredient is branded as a wellness product that has anti-ageing properties
  • China's demand for the gelatine has pushed suppliers to source donkeys abroad
  • In Kenya alone, the donkey population has fallen by a third in the past nine years
  • Many donkeys in Nairobi have fallen victim to the black market for their skins 

Hundreds of thousands of donkeys - many of them stolen - have been abused, slaughtered and skinned in China - all for a medicinal ingredient.

'Ejiao' (阿胶), a traditional Chinese medicine made from boiling down donkey hide and has been used by Chinese people for more than 2,500 years. The huge demand is now depleting the animal's population and driving up donkey prices.

Suppliers of ejiao are now driven to seek out donkey skins from Africa, Australia and South America. In Kenya alone, the price of donkeys has tripled in one year, with the animal's population fallen by a third in the past nine years.

At the same time, many of the donkeys in Nairobi have fallen victim to the black market for their skins. 

Donkeys are kept in a holding area at a slaughter center in Naivasha, Kenya. Agents are seeking to feed China's insatiable appetite for ejiao, made from stewed donkey skins 

Donkeys are kept in a holding area at a slaughter center in Naivasha, Kenya. Agents are seeking to feed China's insatiable appetite for ejiao, made from stewed donkey skins 

Donkeys raised by subcontractors of the world's largest donkey skin gel producer await for lunch in the city of Dong'e in eastern China's Shandong province

Donkeys raised by subcontractors of the world's largest donkey skin gel producer await for lunch in the city of Dong'e in eastern China's Shandong province

Vintage cartoons of donkey skin gel are on display at a museum for the traditional medicine run by the Dong'e Ejiao Corporation Limited, in Dong'e, China

Vintage cartoons of donkey skin gel are on display at a museum for the traditional medicine run by the Dong'e Ejiao Corporation Limited, in Dong'e, China

Dawn was just beginning to break when Joseph Kamonjo Kariuki woke to find his donkeys missing. The villager searched the bush frantically for the animals he depends on to deliver water for a living, but they were nowhere to be found.

It was the village's children who led Kariuki to the ghastly remains: three bloody, severed donkey heads lying on the ground.

'I was in shock,' said Kariuki, 37, who is known in his Kenyan village of Naivasha as 'Jose wa Mapunda' - 'Joseph of the Donkeys' in Swahili.

Kariuki believes his donkeys were the latest victims of a black market for donkey skins, the key ingredient in a Chinese health fad that's threatening the beasts of burden many Africans rely on for farm work and transporting heavy loads.

A donkey is being dragged into a slaughter center in Naivasha, Kenya for its skin

A donkey is being dragged into a slaughter center in Naivasha, Kenya for its skin

A donkey farm run by one of the many local subcontractors supplying the world's largest donkey skin gel producer in the city of Dong'e in eastern China's Shandong province

A donkey farm run by one of the many local subcontractors supplying the world's largest donkey skin gel producer in the city of Dong'e in eastern China's Shandong province

Donkeys raised by subcontractors of the world's largest donkey skin gel producer await for lunch in the city of Dong'e in eastern China's Shandong province

Donkeys raised by subcontractors of the world's largest donkey skin gel producer await for lunch in the city of Dong'e in eastern China's Shandong province

From Kenya to Burkina Faso, Egypt to Nigeria, animal rights groups say, agents are seeking to feed China's insatiable appetite for the ejiao (pronounced 'uh-jee-ow') made from stewed donkey skins that purports to provide health benefits.

Shrinking donkey herds in China have driven ejiao producers to seek out donkey skins from Africa, Australia and South America, threatening the world's donkey population and driving violent crime and protests across Africa, the activists say.

Kariuki founded a protest group 'Tunza Punda Wako' or 'Take Care of Your Donkey' in Swahili. They've picketed the abattoir in Naivasha, accusing it of driving the skin thefts.

'At this rate we will tell our children that donkeys once existed,' he said.

Fourteen African governments have banned the export of donkey skins, according to the UK-based animal welfare group Donkey Sanctuary.

Shrinking donkey herds in China have driven ejiao producers to seek out donkey skins abroad

Shrinking donkey herds in China have driven ejiao producers to seek out donkey skins abroad

The product made from boiling down donkey hide has been a growing health fad across China

The product made from boiling down donkey hide has been a growing health fad across China

Kenya's three licensed slaughterhouses butcher 1,000 donkeys a day to supply skins to China

Kenya's three licensed slaughterhouses butcher 1,000 donkeys a day to supply skins to China

In Kenya, the donkey population has fallen in the past nine years by a third - from 1.8 million to 1.2 million. 

Kenya's three licensed slaughterhouses butcher 1,000 donkeys a day to supply skins to China, said Calvin Onyango, program development manager of the Donkey Sanctuary Kenya. 

'We do not have many donkeys and most people do not want to sell their donkeys. So to keep supplying these slaughterhouses, we have ended up with businesspeople or brokers stealing other people's donkeys to supply the slaughterhouses,' Onyango said.

He added that the rate at which donkeys were being slaughtered meant that there could be none left in five years.

From Kenya, the donkey hides travel thousands of kilometers (miles) to China. Many of them end up in an eastern town called Dong'e, where most of the world's ejiao is made.

On the road into Dong'e, billboard after billboard proclaims the purported curative powers of the gelatin.

Ejiao has been a growing health fad in China. Experts say the rate at which donkeys were being slaughtered meant that there could be none left in five years

Ejiao has been a growing health fad in China. Experts say the rate at which donkeys were being slaughtered meant that there could be none left in five years

Donkeys are used to pull a cart containing the carcasses of other donkeys from a slaughter area to a dump site in Naivasha, Kenya. Many of them end up in Dong'e in eastern China

Donkeys are used to pull a cart containing the carcasses of other donkeys from a slaughter area to a dump site in Naivasha, Kenya. Many of them end up in Dong'e in eastern China

Skinned donkey carcasses are left to rot at a dump site at a slaughter center in Naivasha, Kenya

Skinned donkey carcasses are left to rot at a dump site at a slaughter center in Naivasha, Kenya

'Ejiao, eat for a long life, lose weight, and get more energy,' reads a slogan printed on the side of a hotel dedicated to gelatin tourism.

Farmers raise hundreds of donkeys in metal-roofed dirt paddocks surrounding the town. Most donkeys at three farms The Associated Press visited were tagged with the initials of the Dong'e Ejiao Corporation Limited, or DEEJ, the nation's largest producer of donkey gelatin.

The company processes about 1 million skins a year and makes up 63 per cent of the ejiao market, according to the Forward Industry Research Institute, a Chinese market research firm. 

What is ejiao?

Ejiao (阿胶) is a traditional Chinese medicine made from boiling down donkey skins and has been used in the country for more than 2,500 years. 

The health product, in a form of a hard gel, can be dissolved in hot water or alcohol to be used in food or drink.  

It's believed that ejiao could improve blood circulation, and thus it's often used as a blood tonic by people with anaemia, according to Tong Ren Tang, the largest producer of traditional Chinese medicine in China. 

Ejiao can be made with donkey hide and other ingredients, such as walnuts (pictured)

The donkey hide can be mixed with other food to make ejiao, such as walnuts (pictured)

It can also help with respiratory problems such as coughing as well as with skin conditions including acne.

Some even claimed that it has anti-ageing properties and could help prevent cancer and improve your libido. 

It is also now used as an ingredient in face creams, dessert and alcohol. 

A check on Taobao, China's largest online shopping platform, shows that 250 grams of the luxury health product is sold for more than 1,000 yuan (£117).

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DEEJ says in its latest annual report that its profits rose 10 per cent to US$313 million (£235 million) last year.

DEEJ president Qin Yufeng declined to be interviewed but sent a statement to the AP saying ejiao has benefited more than 20,000 poor households in 1,000 towns.

Qin said the soaring demand for ejiao isn't the reason that donkey populations are shrinking. Rather, fewer donkeys are being bred, he wrote, because they've been increasingly replaced by machines on farms.

Guo Fanli, an economist in the southern city of Shenzhen, said Qin and DEEJ have inflated ejiao's value by marketing what was typically used for what was believed to be its blood-boosting properties as something with far wider benefits to body health and beauty. 

The price of donkeys has tripled in one year, with the animal's population fallen by a third in the past nine years in Kenya alone due to the growing demand for ejiao in China

The price of donkeys has tripled in one year, with the animal's population fallen by a third in the past nine years in Kenya alone due to the growing demand for ejiao in China

The Dong'e Ejiao Corporation Limited, known by its Chinese initials DEEJ, processes about 1 million skins a year and makes up 63 per cent of the ejiao market

The Dong'e Ejiao Corporation Limited, known by its Chinese initials DEEJ, processes about 1 million skins a year and makes up 63 per cent of the ejiao market

The surge in ejiao demand has driven the price of donkey hides up by nearly five times - from US$78 (£59) per hide in 2010 to US$405 (£305) in 2015 

The surge in ejiao demand has driven the price of donkey hides up by nearly five times - from US$78 (£59) per hide in 2010 to US$405 (£305) in 2015 

'By enriching the cultural meaning of ejiao, and overstating its actual effects, the company has successfully made it into a health product with multiple uses that can be bought as a gift,' Guo said.

'The more it has been hyped, the more miserably it could fall,' he said.

Others have echoed skepticism of ejiao's uses. China's government health agency said ejiao marketing was based on 'superstitious concepts.'

'Donkey hide is just "boiled donkey skin",' the commission said in a February statement on the micro-blogging site, Sina Weibo. 

The commission took down the post after an uproar among traditional medicine enthusiasts.

One such advocate is Fu Yanlin, a professor at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, who says he often prescribes ejiao to the 100 patients he sees a week for urinary, cardiovascular, gynecological and other ailments. 

A retailer stands next to various products of 'ejiao,' or donkey skin gel, in the town of Dong'e

A retailer stands next to various products of 'ejiao,' or donkey skin gel, in the town of Dong'e

A factory outlet store of the Dong'e Ejiao Corporation Limited, known by its Chinese initials DEEJ, which controls a majority of the donkey skin gelatin trade out of Dong'e in eastern China

A factory outlet store of the Dong'e Ejiao Corporation Limited, known by its Chinese initials DEEJ, which controls a majority of the donkey skin gelatin trade out of Dong'e in eastern China

The surge in ejiao demand has driven the price of donkey hides up by nearly five times - from US$78 (£59) per hide in 2010 to US$405 (£305) in 2015, according to the Shandong Ejiao Association. 

China's donkey population, meanwhile, has halved from 9.4 million in 1996 to 5.5 million in 2015, according to Chinese state media, driving producers to look abroad.

In response to the surging demand, state-built donkey abattoirs have sprung up in the African nations of Namibia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Botswana. 

Niger's hide exports tripled. Botswana slaughtered 3 per cent of its total donkey population in six months, according the Donkey Sanctuary.

More than 2 million of the world's 44 million donkeys are killed for their skins every year, according to Donkey Sanctuary. 

Donkey skin gel retailer  speaks about the tradition of 'ejiao' for treating various ailments

Donkey skin gel retailer speaks about the tradition of 'ejiao' for treating various ailments

The Dong'e Ejiao Corporation Limited, the main processing facilities of the world's largest donkey skin gel producer in Dong'e, China

The Dong'e Ejiao Corporation Limited, the main processing facilities of the world's largest donkey skin gel producer in Dong'e, China

In rural parts of western Zimbabwe, there are often more donkeys than cars on the roads. Farmers like the Chingodza family are resisting market pressure to sell their donkeys, vital for farm work and transportation to the biggest nearby town, Seke, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside of Harare.

'I like my donkeys. They help a lot and are dear to me,' said Jeffrey Chingodza, 65, as he put a yoke on a donkey. 

'I won't sell for export to Chinese abattoirs,' he said.

His son 20-year old son Tawanda, however, said surging prices are tempting.

'When you have a car and you get the first buyer saying 'I will give you $3,000 for it and the second buyer says I will give you $6,000,' what would you do?' Tawanda said. 

'I will definitely sell. All of us want money.'

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