Sponsors (23)
Official title: To prohibit the transportation, sale, and purchase of donkeys or donkey hides for the purpose of producing ejiao, to prohibit the transportation, sale, and purchase of products containing ejiao, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 23, 2025 by Donald Sternoff Beyer · Last progress September 23, 2025
The bill sharply reduces U.S. demand and strengthens enforcement against trade in donkeys, hides, and ejiao—protecting animals and deterring traffickers—but does so at the cost of significant compliance, seizure, and civil‑liberty risks for importers, consumers, and small businesses and with added burdens on enforcement agencies and some rural communities.
Rural communities and global donkey populations will see reduced U.S. demand for donkey hides/ejiao, lowering incentives for large-scale slaughter and helping protect animal populations and livelihoods tied to donkeys.
Customs, border, and law-enforcement agencies gain stronger, clearer enforcement tools (civil and criminal penalties, seizure/forfeiture authority, and defined prohibitions) to deter and punish illegal trade in donkeys, hides, and ejiao products.
U.S. consumers are less likely to buy products derived from potentially inhumane or unsustainable donkey slaughter, reducing ethical/health concerns for purchasers of ejiao products.
Importers, retailers, suppliers, and small businesses face substantial compliance costs, fines, seizures, and potential loss of inventory or transport equipment, threatening revenues and livelihoods.
Civil forfeiture and expanded seizure authority risk property loss without criminal conviction, raising serious due-process and civil‑liberties concerns for owners, consignees, and small operators.
Criminal-liability standards, market-value thresholds, and broad venue rules create uncertainty and increase the risk that ordinary purchasers or low-capacity businesses could be prosecuted or face heavy legal costs for inadvertent possession or sales.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Bans trade in donkeys, donkey hides, and products containing ejiao in U.S. commerce and creates civil/criminal penalties, seizure, and CBP/Interior enforcement.
Prohibits the import, export, transport, sale, purchase, receipt, or possession in U.S. interstate or foreign commerce of donkeys, donkey hides, and products containing ejiao (a gelatin made from donkey skins). It creates civil and criminal penalties, seizure and forfeiture rules, and names U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Interior Department as primary enforcers with specified enforcement powers. The bill defines covered terms (donkey, ejiao, import, taken), preserves existing Endangered Species Act protections, allows administrative and criminal enforcement (including fines up to $10,000 per violation and imprisonment for certain knowing offenses), and authorizes seizure, detention, and care of animals and goods pending proceedings. It applies U.S. customs seizure/forfeiture law and permits limited use of other federal, state, or tribal personnel by agreement for enforcement activities.