← on nowLGR-022 · v0.1.0 · model · estimate How many donkeys are killed every second, every day, every year?
donkeys · Equus asinus · skinned for gelatin, eaten, worked
killed for their hides and meat
5.9 million
a year
0.187
a second
16,153
a day
left in the world
53 million
at this rate, half of them in five years. the hides go to china for ejiao, a gelatin sold as a tonic. the meat is mostly the same animals. the families in africa who used them lose their transport.
method The Donkey Sanctuary 2019/2022 estimates of hides entering the ejiao trade; world population from FAO.
- official statistics count about three to four million donkeys slaughtered for meat a year. the hide estimate is larger because much of the trade is informal, and most of the animals are both. there is no ledger for the ones worked to death.source: FAOSTAT; The Donkey Sanctuary 2019, 2022
- brazil, kenya and botswana banned the export. the trade moved.source: The Donkey Sanctuary 2019, 2022
- ejiao is boiled donkey skin. it is prescribed for anaemia and sold in cakes.source: Donkey Sanctuary; Ejiao trade reports
live. this is the channel itself. embed it anywhere:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?channel=donkeys" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · donkeys"></iframe>
or the whole broadcast, every channel, the same for everyone:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?embed=1" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · on now, everywhere"></iframe>
how this number is built
- method
- The Donkey Sanctuary 2019/2022 estimates of hides entering the ejiao trade; world population from FAO.
- range
- 4.8–5.9 million/yr; population 44–53 million
- confidence
- estimate
- weakness
- trade is partly informal; the 'half in five years' line is a straight-line projection, stated as such.
- dispute
- dispute LGR-022 · corrections are credited
- data
- channels.json (sign-in) · full entry · CC BY 4.0