That day began similarly to most others. He went to the field in the morning to retrieve his livestock after leaving his house on the outskirts of Nairobi.
He says, “I couldn’t see them.” “I searched all day, all night and the following day.” Three days later, he received a call from a buddy informing him that he had discovered the skeletons of the animals. “They’d been killed, slaughtered, their skin was not there.”
Such robberies of donkeys have increased in frequency throughout many
regions of Africa as well as other global locations with sizable populations of these laboring animals. Steve and his donkeys are victims of the contentious international donkey skin trade.
Its source is thousands of miles away from that Kenyan field. A popular traditional Chinese medicine is created from the gelatin found in donkey skin. We refer to it as Ejiao.
It is thought to have rejuvenating and health-improving qualities. The gelatin found in donkey skins is extracted by boiling it, and it is then used to make powder, tablets, liquid, and culinary additives.
