New campaign aims to raise awareness about the donkey skin trade

The Donkey Sanctuary have launched a new campaign called ‘Innocent Lives’ to raise awareness of the plight of the donkey

The donkey skin trade is claiming the lives of 4.8 million donkeys every year, with two million of those suffering at the hands of illegal traffickers before being slaughtered. The Donkey Sanctuary is calling on the public to join them in a bid to end the donkey skin trade after shocking new facts revealed that the donkey is now the most trafficked animal on the planet. Its new film entitled ‘Innocent Lives’ follows the tale of a young Ethiopian girl whose working donkey is stolen in the night and transported to a slaughterhouse where he’s killed and skinned.

The story is an account of what’s happening all over the world due to the demand for Ejiao – a traditional Chinese medicine made from donkey skin – which has already destroyed the Chinese donkey population. This has forced traders to seek donkey skins from other countries, many of which are areas where communities are reliant on working donkeys for their livelihood.

Traffickers pay no regard to whether a donkey is young, pregnant, or injured and they keep donkeys in deeply cruel, inhumane conditions before they’re slaughtered. The lack of regulations and ruthless nature of the traffickers mean donkey populations in some places are being entirely wiped out.

Marianne Steele, Acting CEO of The Donkey Sanctuary, said: “The inhumane and unregulated donkey skin trade is among the biggest global threats to donkeys today. The suffering donkeys experience at the hands of this trade cannot be understated.

“Beyond this, every donkey stolen and slaughtered by traffickers leaves behind a family that relies on it to support their livelihood. Often, it is the most vulnerable in these communities who suffer most, and the main character in our film represents the young girls who risk being removed from education in order to cover the work their donkeys can no longer do.”

The animated film, developed by independent creative agency ArthurLondon and available now to view on YouTube, has been launched to bring greater awareness to the impacts of this trade on the communities and individuals that rely on them. It forms part of The Donkey Sanctuary’s Stop the Slaughter campaign.

If you’d like to watch the video and find out more, visit thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk