Donkeys bludgeoned with sledgehammers, slaughtered and skinned for horror Chinese medicine trade ‘SLOW, AGONISING DEATH’
November 22, 2017 PETA
Horrific footage shows the gruesome fate awaiting millions of donkeys each year which are slaughtered and skinned for a traditional Chinese medicine. Video shows a donkey get bashed in the head with a sledgehammer, while another helpless creature continues to move after being bludgeoned.
The creatures are killed for a traditional Chinese medicine called ejiao which is made from boiling their skin into gelatin.
PETA Asia visited several farms and livestock markets in China supplying major manufacturers. The animal rights group has released the shocking footage as it campaigns to ban the export of live donkeys to fuel the trade.
Campaigners found the animals are kept in appalling conditions at farms before their "terrifying and painful deaths" by a hammer blow. PETA said: "Donkeys were confined to small, filthy concrete-floored pens. "Many were seen standing in their own waste. "The only water available to them was filthy and green with algae. "One donkey was so malnourished that his ribs stuck out. "Another was so sick that he couldn't walk, so he was dumped into the bucket of a tractor and hauled away."
The undercover clip shows how the donkey's neck are sliced open after they are bludgeoned. The donkey-gelatin, produced in the coastal provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong, is used to treat conditions including bleeding, dizziness, insomnia and dry cough. At markets before being sent to slaughter, PETA said the "terrified donkeys were beaten with sticks".
Pakistan and 10 African nations have closed Chinese-funded slaughterhouses and developed policies to ban exporting donkey skin. But PETA warned: "The industry is fuelling a black market for donkeys, and many are being stolen or slaughtered illegally so that people can profit from China's medicinal market.
"The demand is so high that other animals, such as horses, pigs, and cows, are now suffering the same gruesome fate in the production of fake ejiao."
The Northern Territory government in Australia exports donkey hides to China and plans to introduce a live-donkey export industry, according to PETA. Its petition to the Australian government to ban exports of live donkeys to China reads: "Donkeys are highly sensitive animals who would suffer tremendously if they were exported to the horrific ejiao industry to be killed in the most inhumane ways in China, a country that has virtually no laws regarding animal protection or welfare.
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