In recent years, there has been a significant increase in demand for the collagen from donkey skins, used to make the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) ejiao (pronounced uh-jee-ow). With China unable to meet demand due to its own diminished donkey population and failed attempts to farm them profitably at sufficient scale, the ejiao industry has been sourcing donkeys from across the world.
A new report from The Donkey Sanctuary, citing research from the University of Reading, reveals farming donkeys for their hides is not a viable business model. Worse still, intensive farming puts the health and wellbeing of donkeys and humans at significant risk by increasing the risk of infectious disease spread in both species.
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