Enforcement of an order banning the slaughter of donkeys and the export of hides saved 1.5 million mules, but it dealt a blow to consumers in China.
Kenya in 2020 ordered donkey slaughterhouses to be shut down amid concerns over the theft of the animals by gangs seeking their skin for use in Chinese medicines.
Official data indicate enforcement of the order last year, after lax execution that saw between 1.23 million and 1.72 million donkeys slaughtered between 2020 and 2023.
Kenya had become the epicentre of a fast-growing industry in Africa to supply donkey skins to China, where a gelatin called ejiao made from boiling them down is used in a traditional medicine believed to stop ageing and boost libido.
“Meanwhile, there were no donkeys slaughtered during the review period as it was declared illegal,” said the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) about the nil entry last year.
In 2023 alone, 4,738 donkeys were slaughtered daily, exceeding the capacity of the four established slaughterhouses licensed to handle 900 donkeys per day.
For five years, Chinese firms and their contractors slaughtered 7.7 million donkeys in Kenya, underlining their growing appetite for gelatin sourced from the donkeys’ hides.
Notably, ejiao has been promoted by traditional Chinese medicine vendors and health food companies as a possible remedy for respiratory, gynaecological and circulatory disorders.
Estimates from the Donkey Sanctuary indicate that the ejiao industry utilises between four and six million donkey hides each year in China, which accounts for approximately 10 percent of the global donkey population.
The global demand for donkey meat and skin triggered the establishment and licensing of slaughterhouses in Kenya in 2016.
However, the rising demand for gelatin had begun decimating donkey populations at alarming rates in Kenya amid theft.
This led to a declining stock of donkeys and increased cases of theft, putting pressure on the Kenyan government to ban the unregulated trade.
Moreover, the African Union, the apex body comprising 55 member countries, outlawed donkey skin exports in 2024 to help stocks in African countries recover.
Several regional African countries, including Ethiopia and Tanzania, have enacted bans on the export of donkey skins.
Nevertheless, the porous borders and weak enforcement of penalties have complicated efforts to stop the trade.
Turkana, a home to more than one-third of the donkeys’ population in Kenya was a major target for bandits who were part of the criminal syndicate that sourced skins to abattoirs.
For rural households in Kenya, donkeys are an important resource, particularly in transportation and agriculture.
