Congressional findings and declaration of policy Congress find and declare that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West, that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people. This was the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

This is the law, supposedly enforced by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Whether you care about the Horses and Burros Act of 1971 or not, when it gallops into thought, what is seen are the free-roaming horses dotting our wide-open spaces. What has been lost in this romantic vision of the West are the burros and donkeys. They have become the unseen ones. People do not see a burro, donkey or ass as they see the iconic wild mustang.

Each year, millions of burros and donkeys are being slaughtered for the production of ejiao, a medicinal gelatin that is made from boiling the skins of the animals. The burro and donkey skin trade is now decimating the global populace.

Ejiao, pronounced uh-jee-ow, also known as donkey-hide glue, is a key ingredient in traditional Chinese remedies. It is derived from the gelatin found in burro and donkey hides.

It has also been revealed that in China, burros and donkeys are bashed in the head with a sledgehammer, then skinned alive so that their skins can be boiled for the highest volume of ejiao to be rendered.

Ejiao is used primarily in cosmetics and traditional Chinese medicines. Despite little scientific evidence of its health benefits, users consider it a blood tonic and take it to enrich blood, cure anemia, stop bleeding, improve the immune system, prevent cancer and treat insomnia and dizziness. Ejiao can sell for $400 per pound.

The demand for ejiao has increased significantly in recent years, overwhelming the Chinese supply of burros and donkeys. The hide trade centers are in Asia, the Americas and Africa. Suppliers slaughter donkeys in these regions and export the donkey skins to factories in China for ejiao production.

According to estimates, between 2.3 million and 4.8 million burros and donkeys are slaughtered annually for their hides to support ejiao production. At this rate, legal and illegal burros’ and donkeys’ hide trade will threaten the global and certain regional populations of wild and domesticated burros and donkeys.

For example, the donkey population in Botswana declined approximately 70 percent from 2011 to 2021. This is a prompt that the burros' and donkeys’ hide trade is a threat to them in Botswana.

Uncertainty over how various factors affect donkey populations makes the burro and donkey hide trade effects on populations difficult to determine. The trade of hides can be legal or illegal, depending on where and how the burros and donkeys are acquired and killed.

China permits the import of hides from burros and donkeys from 23 countries around the world. Some of these countries, however, have enacted laws to ban or regulate the slaughter or trade of burros and donkeys. These bans have increased the illegal trade in hides.

There are no formal protections for domesticated burros and donkeys under international wildlife trade conventions, and each country is responsible for implementing regulations and laws to address the trade. The United States has no laws or regulations that directly address the trade in burros and donkeys or ejiao.

The export of burros and donkeys to China for use in ejiao raises concerns about the status of global and regional burro and donkey populations.

To meet this demand, burros and donkeys and their skins are being exported all over the world, particularly from Africa and Latin America. However, according to the Donkey Sanctuary, half of the world’s donkey population would need to be slaughtered in the next five years in order to keep up with the current market demand.

The increasing number of BLM burros and donkeys in kill pens and slaughter auctions raises serious concerns about burros being put at risk of entering the donkey skin trade and the production of ejiao. 

Now, burro and donkey hide merchants are looking beyond Africa. Because of their small size, they have not been as sought after as horses by “kill buyers.” With minimal ejiao trade, processing and shipping costs, the hides are valuable regardless of the animal’s health, weight or hoof conditions. Burros and donkeys from the United States and South America may become more valuable dead than alive.

Today, the assessed count of free roaming burros and donkeys is 13,191, yet the BLM says it is obliged to keep rounding them up. It costs practically nothing to keep them in the wild. To be housed in holding corrals supposedly costs taxpayers approximately $1,825 per animal each year.

BLM adopts out younger burros and donkeys for a fee of $125 without serious monitoring. The majority of those offered for adoption are untrained. Burros over 10 years of age, or that have been passed up for adoption three times, are sold for $25 under “sale authority,” based on a nebulous amendment to the 1971 Act.

Helicopter roundups are devastating for the burros and donkeys. By nature, they don’t run in large groups. When faced with a threat, they freeze in place to study the situation and then scatter.

Post-roundup burro and donkey herds left in the wild initially produce more offspring than normal as a biological response to the existential threat to the herd survival.

The BLM sets arbitrary population targets called Appropriate Management Levels (AMLs) to slash burro and donkey herds. In its 2013 analysis of the federal Wild Horse and Burro Program, the National Academy of Sciences said the AMLs were not supported by scientific evidence.

The Academy warned that given the small, fragmented burro and donkey populations in the West, “removing them permanently from the range could jeopardize the genetic health of the total population.” The BLM chose to ignore the warning, and forged ahead with its roundup and removal program.

Change can only happen when we speak up to demand that the BLM cease its war on burros and donkeys, as well as the wild horses. The BLM must revise its absurdly low population targets and start protecting, rather than vilifying, this valuable ecological and historical resource.

The burro and donkey are valued working animals; they are essential to many livelihoods. Perhaps no animal has given so much to humankind as the gentle burro and donkey. As packers and all-around great companions, their light footprint and capacity for giving is unsurpassed. Burros and donkeys contributed to the opening of the West. They deserve our respect and to have a home on the range. - dbA

You can find more of the unfiltered insight and the Art of Dan Abernathy at www.contributechaos.com.

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