Cruelty on animals: Video of donkeys being killed for Chinese medicine

A new PETA video exposé sees how donkeys are brutally beaten and killed for a Chinese trade in their skins, which is boiled down to make a traditional ‘medicine’ called ejiao.

The video shows how thousands of donkeys are kept crammed in filthy concrete-floored pens, beaten with sticks, bludgeoned to the head with sledgehammers and then their throats slit, all for their skin.

According to PETA, the demand for ejiao, which can also be found in certain candies, snacks, and beauty products, has risen in such rapid rates in recent years that donkeys are being imported into China for slaughter. Not only that PETA sources say that even horses, pigs and cows are being indiscriminately slaughtered to create fake ejiao.

Graphic video: Viewer discretion advised.

Dr Lee Yuming, a doctor of Chinese medicine who spoke to PETA, said, “There is a misconception about ejiao – it is not the most effective medicine to enrich blood in spite of its long history in traditional medicine. Nowadays, there are many other options that are much better at improving one's health, including modern drugs and herbal medicines."

Speaking about the practice, PETA Asia media officer Keith Guo said, “Donkeys as young as 5 months old in the ejiao trade have been bashed in the head and die a slow, agonising death, all for an ingredient.” He went on to add, “PETA is calling on kind people everywhere to reject ejiao, choose cruelty-free foods and medicines, and encourage their friends and family members to do the same.”

The graphic video shows how the poor animals are mistreated, made to suffer and can even be observed standing in their own faeces and urine. Some were so malnourished, injured, or ill that they were unable to walk.