Animal experts now want laws strengthened to stop abuse of animals. This call comes after activists twice painted and chained donkeys to posts in Nairobi to protest runaway corruption.
Dr Solomon Onyango of the Donkey Sanctuary in Nairobi says while efforts by civil society groups to promote human rights deserve applause, their continued abuse of animal rights in advancing their cause is alarming.
"Where is the logic in abusing the rights of the vulnerable species in defence of another superior species?" He says.
Dr Onyango now says the law must be stiffened to protect animals from abuse.
On December 10 last year when the world marked the International Animal Rights Day, 36 donkeys marked "tumechoka" (we are tired) were transported without a movement permit and dumped in the middle of the city.
“The donkeys were later rescued by Donkey Sanctuary Kenya and the Kenya Society for the Protection and Care for Animals. Unfortunately three females aborted and died due to distress while six young donkeys also died due to the distress they went through,” says Dr Onyango.
Early in the year, several pigs were dumped near Parliament Building to protest against MPs and Senators' greed in awarding themselves hefty perks in disregard of the nation's economy. One of the pigs died in the process.
Dr Onyango says animals, like other zoological beings, are sentient creatures - they too can be happy or sad depending on how they're treated by their masters, who rank higher on the intellectual scale, the key attribute that sets human apart from other species.
Animal rights advocates now condemn this abuse as "speciesism," which they equate to racism or sexism.
“In the words of Mahatma Gandhi: 'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated'. The Holy Bible condemns cruel acts against animals in Proverbs 12.10, 'Good people take care of their animals, but wicked people are cruel to theirs,""says Dr Onyango.
Currently, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act protects animals against abuse, but Dr Onyango says it is not punitive enough.
He says animals are a source of food, power and income to man. Pets give unconditional company. Wild animals too have a critical ecological function, are a source of foreign currency and a symbol of national heritage, he says.
“Mahatma's school of thought measures societal morals by how it treats its most vulnerable members. When human rights groups abuse the rights of animals, we should be worried because this negates their hypothetical mantra. They are telling the society that indeed the vulnerable Kenyans are doomed,” Dr Onyango says.
Another animal health expert, Dr Felix Rachuonyo, the resident vet at the Donkey Sanctuary in Lamu, says animal rights abuse in the country is rife.
In 2008, a group called Target Africa had organised a bullfight at Safaricom Stadium at Kasarani to market the Western Kenya cultural event as a tourists' attraction.
Dr Rachunyo says the event contravened the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and it took the Kenya Veterinary Association's chairman Christopher Wanga's court action to stop it.
“In 2012, at Gikomora village in Maragua, a family buried a cow alive before the remains of Mugucia Wang'era were interred. This was supposedly done to appease his wish and protect the living from a curse. That this criminal act was committed in full view of law enforcement officers (chief) and with the endorsement of religious leaders speaks a lot about the moral rot in society,” says Dr Rachuonyo.
The vet says overloaded donkeys being whipped to move faster, dogs left on their own to scavenge in dump sites, and carcasses on roads are a common sight.
"We keep pigs in squalid conditions and feed them on rotting garbage, but are glad to make money out of them," he adds.
A study done in the US found that 70 per cent of people who abused pets were more likely to commit other crimes.
Dr Joseph Othieno, an animal welfare officer in Lamu, says the impunity with which domestic animals abused is scientifically proven to prevent people from empathising with others in the society.
"We appeal to human rights organisations to stop using and funding protests that involve use of animals, which are themselves not part of the ills that bedevil the human race," says Dr Othieno.
