Donkey Slaughter Banned After PETA Asia Ejiao Investigation

For Immediate Release:
27 February 2020

Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

DONKEY SLAUGHTER BANNED AFTER PETA ASIA EJIAO INVESTIGATION
Kenya Prohibits Killing Donkeys, Exporting Them to China, Where Their Boiled-Down Skin Is Used in Medicine, Cosmetics, and Confectionery

London – After a PETA Asia investigation of government-sanctioned abattoirs in Mogotio and Naivasha, Kenya, revealed that workers violently beat donkeys who were killed for a traditional Chinese medicine known as ejiao, Ministry of Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya has just ordered all donkey abattoirs in Kenya to be shut down by next month. See PETA Asia’s investigative footage  .

The move comes after more than 200,000 supporters of PETA and its affiliates sent letters urging Munya to end the donkey-skin trade, in which donkeys are packed onto lorries and forced to endure gruelling journeys to abattoirs from as far away as neighbouring 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 abattoir and dragged another one – who was injured so badly that she was unable to stand – from the lorry, dumped her on the ground, and kicked her.

“PETA praises Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya’s decision to save Kenya’s donkeys. By shutting down these abattoirs, the country has cut ties with a cruel trade that sentences gentle donkeys to miserable deaths by the millions,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “No one needs donkey skin except the animals who were born in it, and PETA hopes other countries take a stand against the ejiao industry and follow suit.”

Pakistan and numerous African countries – including Botswana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda – have banned Chinese-funded abattoirs or implemented policies to stop the export of donkey skins to China. In addition, eBay 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” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview – urges kind people around the world to help donkeys by refusing to buy products containing ejiao or donkey gelatine.

Photographs from the investigation are available here. Broadcast-quality video footage from the investigation is available here. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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