Save Latin America’s Donkeys from the Donkey Skin Trade

Every skin is a story. Every donkey deserves a life of dignity.

The Crisis

Across Latin America, donkeys — gentle, intelligent, and loyal beings — are under attack. A cruel and growing industry is stealing their lives to supply the global demand for "ejiao", a gelatin made from donkey skins used in traditional Chinese medicine and luxury products.

• Colombia has already seen donkeys illegally slaughtered and skinned for export.
• In Venezuela, donkeys are stolen, trafficked, and sold across the border to enter the trade from Colombia.
• In Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, negotiations and exports are already underway to feed the trade.
• Meanwhile, the United States is ironically one of the largest importers of ejiao, fueling the very industry destroying donkeys abroad.

What does this mean? Donkeys — who are already overworked, underfed, beaten, and even subject to shocking cases of sexual abuse — are now facing a new and devastating threat: being slaughtered en masse for their skins.

This is not just cruel. It’s unacceptable.

Our Mission

Through this campaign, we are committed to:

1. Rescue, rehabilitate, and protect donkeys in Latin America who are victims or are under the threat of ending up in the donkey skin trade.
2. Raise global awareness about the hidden cruelty of ejiao and highlight the role of the United States as a top importer, seeking a ban on ejiao imports.
3. Advocate for national bans on the export of donkey skins across Latin America, pushing governments to close their doors to this industry.
4. Speak the truth: Donkeys are already some of the most abused and overlooked animals on earth. To add the donkey skin trade to their suffering is intolerable.

Why Donkeys?

Donkeys are often called “beasts of burden,” but they are so much more:

• They form deep bonds with each other and with humans.
• They show patience and resilience even in the harshest conditions.
• They are curious, affectionate, and intelligent beings.

And yet — across Latin America, they are treated as disposable. Their lives are being stolen, their bodies commodified, their very species put at risk.

We believe every donkey deserves safety, care, and dignity.

Our Strategy

• In Colombia: Intervene on the ground to rescue donkeys, support sanctuary care, and investigate the illegal skin trade.
• In the U.S.: Launch awareness campaigns to pressure lawmakers and consumers to ban ejiao imports.
• Across Latin America: Build coalitions with local partners in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and Venezuela to demand national bans on donkey skin exports.

This is a multinational fight: protecting donkeys where they live, and stopping the demand where it thrives.

Your Impact

Your donation helps us:

• Provide emergency rescue and veterinary care for abused and at-risk donkeys.
• Expand sanctuary space for lifelong protection.
• Launch awareness campaigns in the U.S. and Latin America to expose the trade.
• Push for political action — bans on donkey skin exports and ejiao imports.

Join Us

The donkey skin trade is spreading fast in Latin America. If we don’t act now, thousands more donkeys will be lost to this brutal industry.

Together, we can rescue survivors, expose the cruelty, and shut down this trade for good.

👉 Donate today and become a Defender of the Donkeys.

Donate today and become part of the Donkey Defenders International movement, created by Namigni Animal Sanctuary, a US 501(c)3 nonprofit providing sanctuary for rescued donkeys and campaigning to end the donkey skin trade.