Concerns have been raised following the plummeting of donkey numbers countrywide.
Brooke East Africa through the Regional Director Raphael Kinoti noted that going by the Government’s statistics, there were 1.8M donkeys as of 2009 but currently we just have 1.2M donkeys left, meaning a whooping 600,000 have been eliminated.
“We blame all this on the Department of Veterinary Services that okeyed the trade in donkey hide thereby giving unscrupulous people a chance to burn the midnight oil eliminating the animals. The trade should be banned totally in order to give these handy animals a chance to survive,” Dr Kinoti noted.
Dr Kinoti also highlighted the importance of community participation in weeding out the theft of donkeys.
“The society has a critical role to play in informing the authorities any person found driving donkeys in a suspicious manner. Such a person should be reported to the authorities because he poses a great risk to the entire country.
During a field visit to Ndeiya, Brooke East Africa assessed the magnitude of illegal donkey slaughter whereby hundreds of carcasses were evident that the cartels are posing a real threat to donkeys.
“We have seen here today that this illegal slaughter takes place in the cover of darkness and is conducted in the bushes. The hides are quickly removed and the carcass deboned leaving just the skeleton. It’s believed that the meat is then traded in the black Market thereby posing another great health risk to members of the public. This is because donkeys are a carrier to several deadly diseases such as the Equine flu, rabies anthrax and the like,”
Dr Kinoti noted that Brooke East Africa will continue to work with like minded institutions and the authorities in creating awareness, advocacy and enforcement in a bid to safeguard the equines.
