Understanding ejiao, the product driving demand for donkey skins
Ejiao (pronounced uh-jee-ow), also known as ‘colla corii asini’ or ‘donkey-hide glue’, is a key ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. It is produced from the collagen extracted from donkey skin.
The collagen is mixed with herbs and other ingredients to create bars, pills or liquids for consumable goods or beauty products.
Booming demand, but a limited supply
The ejiao industry has experienced significant growth over the past decade.
Between 2013 and 2016, the annual production of ejiao increased from 3,200 to 5,600 tonnes, a yearly growth of over 20%.
Industry reports show that the production of ejiao increased by 160 per cent between 2016 and 2021.
If current trends continue, this will increase by 200 per cent by 2027.
We estimate that the ejiao industry now requires a minimum of 5.9 million donkey skins to keep up with the latest demand figures.
The ejiao industry now relies on the global trade in donkey skins, feeding into this animal welfare and humanitarian emergency.
The impacts of a limited supply of donkeys
The global donkey skin trade has many far-reaching catastrophic repercussions.
Donkeys are suffering, and their populations are being decimated. Communities are losing treasured companions and face risks to their health and local ecosystems, and criminals are capitalising on legal ambiguities for their own ends.
A future for the ejiao industry?
The global skin crisis brings suffering and hardship for millions of donkeys and the communities who depend on them.
We believe that the demand for donkey collagen must be met through humane and sustainable methods.
We are encouraging ejiao manufacturers to Stop the Slaughter and End the Donkey Skin Trade by moving away from using collagen from real donkeys to collagen produced in laboratories using cellular agriculture processes.
To support this, we are raising awareness of this safer, cleaner and humane technology and awareness of the needless cruelty, devastation and risks associated with the global trade in donkeys for the collagen extracted from their skin.