Behind the scenes - The Ejiao industry
ejiao (or CCA -Colla corii asini in English and in Chinese 阿胶 ) is gelatin obtained from the skin of the donkey. Used in traditional Chinese medicine and those that use it believe that it has many benefits including cosmetics, curing anemia,dizziness, bleeding, problems in the reproductive system and various other ailments
The demand for ejiao increased from the start of the 21st century, leading to a decline in the donkey population in China, which began importing donkeys and donkey skins from other countries, causing the donkey population in the world to dwindle and a jump in the price of donkey skin.
In the 21st century, there has been a decline in the supply of donkey skins, as donkey breeding has declined. The declining supply combined with rising demand for ejiao has led to rising prices of donkey skins in China.
As a result, In the mid-2010s, donkey prices in many places around the world began to rise sharply with demand for ejiao. Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal have exported skins to China.
In November 2017, PETA Asia released eyewitness footage showing donkeys beaten to death with a sledgehammer or slaughtered by cutting their throats.
In November 2019, it was reported that 4.8 million donkey hides were required to satisfy the global demand for ejiao, resulting in steep declines of donkey populations around the world.
This situation continues, and one of the goals of the organisation is to rescue the donkeys exported from Israel to this industry and make the donkey a protected species in Israel.
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The article presents the activities of the association, with the Hajj industry in the background.
We dare to look at what is happening, because we know that their only hope is humans, they themselves are helpless against this thing.
The goal of all our activities to protect donkeys from abuse, slavery and trade is to define the donkey as a protected natural value in Israel in order to create a precedent, raise awareness and in cooperation with other organizations - to promote their rights in other countries, until we succeed in stopping what is happening.
After discussions, many consultations with people at key points, experienced organizations and more - the path we have chosen is to empty the country of donkeys.
In recent years, thousands of donkeys have been transferred to Gaza by traders and with the approval of the State of Israel, and according to testimonies from traders and local authorities, there are at most 400 donkeys left in Israel outside protected shelters. We have begun a project to fly donkeys to shelters in Europe in order to reach a situation where there is no donkey in Israel that is not in a protected area, and from this reality to work to define it as a protected natural value and from there to continue international activity to protect them.
Just as it happened with rhinos and leopards - in the past, harming them was permitted and free, today the punishment for it is severe in many countries.
We have set ourselves the task of fighting for the same status for donkeys, because there is no justification for this pain and suffering.
