• A few months ago, donkey owners demanded the closure of Kithioko donkey slaughterhouse in Masinga after hundreds of the animals disappeared.
• Last week, Agriculture CS Peter Munya closed donkey slaughterhouses, arguing that the worth of a donkey's work outweighs that of its meat and skin.
Machakos and Kitui donkey owners want the DCI to investigate smuggling cartels responsible for the theft of their animals.
They say they have lost more than 300,000 donkeys since 2016 when donkey slaughterhouses were opened in the country.
Last week, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya ordered the closure of all donkey slaughterhouses during which the animals will be restocked.
This followed a protest by farmers that their animals were disappearing in unexplained circumstances.
Munya told reporters that "slaughtering donkeys for meat was not a well thought out idea".
He said the benefits of the traditional work done by donkeys outweigh those of slaughtering donkeys and eating their meat.
The slaughtering of donkeys spawned a black market with smuggling networks hiring gangs to steal the beasts of burden.
It is estimated that at least 1,000 donkeys are slaughtered daily in Kenya.
The value of an adult donkey more than quadrupled in Kenya after their meat was legalised for human consumption in 2012, according to Africa Network for Animal Welfare.
There is a huge demand for donkey skins and meat in China. Locally, a donkey's skin fetches Sh15,000.
The donkey owners said on Tuesday that they rarely sleep because they have to protect their animals from thieves. They marched in the streets of Kithioko town waving placards
Josephine Mwendwa, from Kitui, said the closure of donkey slaughterhouses was a prayer answered. She said the animals have been disappearing in unexplained circumstances since the first slaughterhouse was opened in Masinga sub-county.
A few months ago, donkey owners demanded the closure of Kithioko donkey slaughterhouse in Masinga after hundreds of the animals disappeared.
On Tuesday, they marched in the streets of Kithioko town waving placards in protest against the loss of thousands of donkeys.
The national coordinator of the Donkey Owners of Kenya, Fidelis Mwalimu said the abattoirs should be closed indefinitely and called on the government to compensate the farmers for their losses.
The slaughterhouses should be converted into youth polytechnics, schools or community social halls, he said.
Mwalimu feared that the animal will soon become extinct.
"The donkey is a very special species. It doesn't multiply as fast as other animals. If the slaughtering continues, we will have no donkeys in two years," he said.
The 2019 Kenya National Population and Housing Census showed the population of donkeys in the country as 1.8 million.
It warned that the donkey will be extinct in 2023 if nothing is done to curb the donkey skin trade.
A recent Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation and Brooke East Africa survey showed that in the last three years, Kenya has lost Sh28.3 billion in revenue due to the slaughter of 75,494 donkeys.
“These donkeys would otherwise have been used to generate a mean monthly income of Sh11,390. The foregone income was, therefore, Sh28.3 billion in the period April 2016 – December 2019," the report shows.
The survey was conducted in Turkana, Nakuru, Machakos, Baringo, Narok, Kajiado and Kirinyaga.