Donkey trade - the facts

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1.8m skins are traded every year - according to estimates from UK-based charity The Donkey Sanctuary - but the demand is as high as 10m
China's donkey population dropped from 11m in 1990 to 3m today, based on government data
Ejiao, the gelatine produced by boiling donkey skins, can sell for up to $388 (£300) per kilo
Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal have banned donkey exports to China
Suffering
The surge in price and demand in Kenya has been encouraged by three donkey abattoirs, which have opened across the country.
They can each slaughter around 150 animals a day, packing and freezing the meat and salting the skins for export.
At the Star Brilliant Donkey Export Abattoir in Naivasha, the latest arrivals are being dragged onto flat metal scales - they are sold by "live weight".
Donkey abattoir
Image caption
Staff lead donkeys to an abattoir in Kenya
They are shot in the head with a bolt gun before their meat and skins are processed.
Chief executive John Kariuki says he was the first in Kenya, and in Africa, to get official permits to open a donkey slaughterhouse.
"Before, there was no market for the donkeys. People used to sell their cows, people used to sell their goats to pay their school fees for the children," he said.
"But now I find that people in the market are selling donkeys more than cows.
"We are happy with the Chinese, because before there was nothing coming from donkeys, but so many people are benefitting from the donkey now today."
Chinese buyers monitor the process - making sure everything is properly packed and prepared.
When the skins are boiled, they produce a brown gelatine, which is the essential ingredient in Chinese "ejiao" products - popular health foods and traditional medicines. ()