John,

Major airlines are flying crates of bloody donkey skins around the globe, fueling the brutal ejiao industry.

This is the shadowy nature of the donkey skin trade—a multi-layered operation linked to organized crime. The same smuggling networks trafficking illicit wildlife products and drugs are now profiting off donkeys, using air cargo to keep the supply chain running.

Without cargo carriers transporting donkey skins, this tortuous trade would take a major hit. The good news? One airline is taking bold action: Emirates Airlines just adopted a zero tolerance policy and banned donkey skin shipments.

Emirates’ move is a game-changer, disrupting the industry and protecting donkey populations and the communities that rely on them. Now, we need other airlines, like Qatar Airways and Turkish Cargo to follow suit. This is our moment to turn one airline’s bold move into a global shift, but only if we flood them with pressure while the spotlight is still on.

Tell airlines: join Emirates and ban donkey skin shipments now

In rural communities in Africa, donkeys vanish overnight—stolen from families, crammed into overloaded trucks, and transported for days sometimes without food or water. Some die on the journey, their bodies dumped like trash. The rest face a brutal end: bludgeoned, skinned, and shipped in pieces, then to be boiled down into ejiao—a gelatin used in cosmetics and fake health supplements.

The airline's role in this donkey trade can't be ignored as it comes with serious biosecurity risks. Donkey skins cargo can carry parasites and pathogens that threaten livestock, and even humans. Once airborne, these diseases can spread across continents in hours, turning airline involvement into a global hazard.

As the world battles outbreaks like avian flu, airlines can’t afford to look the other way. Every unregulated shipment increases the risk of diseases spreading across borders.

That’s why Emirates’ ban is a game-changer. It’s the first airline to expose the hidden dangers of this trade—not just for donkeys, but for global health. And they didn’t stop there. Emirates partnered with The Donkey Sanctuary to create the Aviation Risk and Threat Assessment, a crucial tool to help airlines shut traffickers out of their networks.

By banning shipments and leading the charge, Emirates has set a new industry standard. Now, it’s time for Qatar Airways, Turkish Cargo, and others to follow suit. If they refuse, they’re not just enabling cruelty, they’re endangering public health.

Tell airlines: Ban donkey skin shipments now

The Ekō community has been relentless in the fight against the donkey skin trade, pressuring Amazon to drop it from its marketplace and pushing for legislation in the U.S. Every action we take brings us closer to shutting this brutal industry down for good. Now, we need to turn up the pressure on airlines to do their part, and join Emirates in banning donkey skin shipments.