Smuggling of donkey skin to the lucrative China market has risen sharply in the last year, endangering the animals.
Brooke East Africa, an organisation involved in the protection of the animals, said the number of donkeys had dropped by over 50 per cent due to the illegal trade attributed to the high demand of the skin.
This emerged when government officers and stakeholders converged in Lake Naivasha for a midterm review of the Rapid Result Initiative (RRI) in the livestock sector.
According to Raphael Kinoti, the CEO Brooke East Africa, the numbers of donkeys in the country declined as demand for the skin continued to rise.
Kinoti said some airlines banned the exportation of donkey products due to the current crisis, forcing the unscrupulous traders to use the sea.
“We are deeply concerned about the rising cases of smuggling of donkey-skin to the Far East as this has seen the number of our donkeys drop sharply in the last ten years,” he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, he added that the ban on donkey slaughterhouses had come in handy as cases of theft targeting the animals had dropped sharply.
Kinoti identified the period between 2016 and 2022 as the worst when the theft was high, with Kajiado and Turkana counties being the most affected.
“Through the Rapid Result Initiative, we have seen cases of donkey theft come down, though the sale of donkey meat is still rife in major towns like Nairobi and Kiambu,” he said.
This was echoed by Dr Benson Kibore from the Kenya Veterinary Board who admitted that sale of inspected meat was rife in major towns in the country.
He added that some traders were illegally acquiring movement permits for livestock, leading to a rise in the sale of uninspected meat.
Nairobi county commissioner David Wanyonyi promised to arrest and prosecute anyone found selling in inspected meat through the Rapid Result Initiative had worked with several traders arrested in Nairobi for selling uninspected meat.
“Nairobi is the main market for donkey meat and we are working with other stakeholders to make sure that we end this illegal vice,” he said.
Dr Allen Azegele from the department of livestock said informal settlements were the main markets for the uninspected meat.
“This initiative is meant to address the safety of livestock products as some traders are putting the lives of Kenyans in danger through the sale of the uninspected meat,” he said.
