• In 2020 donkey slaughter was banned, in May the ban was lifted after abattoirs said their rights were violated. Now government has appealed.
• Kenya's donkey population decreased from 1.8 million in 2009 to about 1.2 million in 2019, according to the Kenya Bureau of Statistics.
Image: JAMES MUNYUA
In February 2020, Kenyan farmers and traders were relieved when government banned donkey slaughter to save the precious beasts of burden from virtual extinction.
Agriculture CS Peter Munya ordered all licensed donkey abattoirs to switch to slaughtering other animals in a month of they would be shut down.
The government ban was in response to increasing complaints about the way abattoirs were operated, theft of donkeys, the dwindling number of donkeys, cross-border smuggling of donkeys, among other problems.
About 1,000 donkeys are slaughtered each day.
Abattoirs, notably Star Brilliant, challenged the move in court and in May High Court judge Richard Mwongo lifted the ban, citing insufficient grounds for prohibition.
He quashed the ban, citing insufficient grounds and saying Star Brilliant's rights were violated.
“The legal notice violates the rights of the applicant under Constitution Article 47 and the applicant is granted a stay to operate in light of the failure by the respondent to file his response,” he said.
That ruling has been appealed.
The ruling discouraged farmers, donkey advocacy groups and animal welfare groups that had praised the ban.
Kenya's donkey population decreased from 1.8 million in 2009 to around 1.2 million in 2019, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said.
The decline was driven by the demand for donkey hides, especially from China. The gel made from hides, ejiao, is used in traditional medicine, cosmetics, skin whitening and aphrodisiac concoctions.
Raphael Kinoti, the CEO of Brooke East Africa, says this situation will worsen even further. Brook is an international animal welfare charity.
He said in 2016 an Agriculture ministry mini census showed Kenya had 2.1 million donkeys. Since 2016 when abattoirs were opened "the number of donkeys has nose-dived to almost 1.2 million,” Kinoti said.
"This is why it's time the slaughter of donkeys is stopped in Kenya,” Kinoti added.
Image: CHETI PRAXIDES
Brooke East Africa said the years 2017 and 2018 were the worse for donkeys. Stealing went up from one donkey per month in 2015 to approximately 150 donkeys per month when the first abattoirs were opened in Naivasha.
The ban dramatically reduced theft. Stealing dropped from about 150 donkeys a month to a few cases, or sometimes none, Kinoti said.
Abattoirs have not shown measures to increase donkey population. They should come up with statistics, he said.
Many observers have noted that the business of donkey meat and hide sales was not well thought out because it has many loopholes that are used to exploit not only the farmers but the government.
Kinoti said the Kenya Revenue Authority should also check tax returns from abattoirs.
“How much money is the taxman given from one donkey skin vis-à-vis the kind of monies it fetches in China?" he asked.
Bernard Karanja, a farmer in Njoro, Nakuru county whose main activity is transportation using donkeys, reckons that if the slaughtering continues then his livelihood is at risk.
Karanja said he has been in business for more than 10 years and he entirely depends on donkeys to feed, educate and clothe his family.
He has seen the dwindling of the donkey population since the abattoirs were opened in Kenya, as many farmers were enticed to sell their donkeys and some sold fearing they would be stolen.
Image: FILE
“Most people here depend on donkeys to transport goods and I have been overwhelmed by work lately because of the scarcity of donkeys," Karanja said.
“We used to leave the donkeys outside but now we have an extra job of providing security for them, someone has to be at home during the day and at night we are always vigilant,” he added.
A few kilometers from Karanja’s home, Joseph Githinji said his three donkeys were stolen. Now he does menial jobs and blames the abattoirs.
“I had three donkeys in 2018, one day I came back home and allowed them to graze. That was the last time I saw them,” he said.
If you don't recover your donkey in two to three days, you can be sure they have been slaughtered, Githinji said.
Donkeys belong to the equidae family, which includes horses and zebras. A donkey is stronger than a horse of the same size and has been used mainly in Africa as a beast of burden.
They reproduce slowly, gestation takes about a year.
Image: JAMES MUNYUA
Brooke East Africa said Rift Valley has the most donkeys in Kenya.
Veterinarian Githaka Ibrahim, a veterinarian with Farming Systems Kenya said donkeys take longer to breed, especially in Kenya.
“The annual rate of donkey increment from the census 2009 until 2016 when slaughterhouses opened was 1.04 per cent," he said.
The rate at which they were slaughtered was five times higher than the breeding rate over 10 years, the veterinarian said.
Other problems are that there are no proven AI methods, no mass breeding and farmers mostly keep donkeys of one gender.
“If farmers want to increase the breeding rate, they must have a male and female at the same time for about 12 days after foaling when the female comes on heat,” Githaka said.
Without these measures, if slaughter continues, the donkey population will dwindle until they become extinct, he said.
Livestock PS Harry Kimtai said the ministry has appealed the High Court decision, adding that donkey theft has increased.
The ministry wants to discuss regulations with abattoir owners but they have not been responsive to invitations for talks, he said.
Four slaughterhouses for export are in Baringo, Turkana, Nakuru, and Machakos counties.
(Edited by V. Graham)