WILL DONKEYS GO THE WAY OF RHINOS AND ELEPHANTS?

 In Kenya, the absence of organized breeding programs has raised concerns among vets, and animal rights activists that the donkey population in the country could be wiped out in a decade or less. About 400 donkeys are slaughtered at the existing abattoirs daily.

With the huge demand in China, the country’s donkey population is now in danger,” says  industry lobby group, and member of the Kenya Livestock  Board, a government body that regulates the livestock sector.

Animal rights activists in Kenya say that over the last year, at least 100,000 donkeys were slaughtered at abattoirs. Some are killed illegally by poachers and passed off as beef in the local market, where eating donkey meat is considered taboo.

Syndicates illegally capture and cruelly kill the animals before skinning them in bushes or makeshift abattoirs. To fight illegal donkey killings, Kenya, which recorded about 1.8 million asses in a 2009 census, requires the animals to be slaughtered only in licensed abattoirs. Traders are required to bear clearance certificates from vets and local chiefs as a safeguard against thefts or cross-border spread of diseases. Slaughterhouses also only buy live donkeys—and are not permitted to buy the animal’s skins alone.undaunted by these rules  faced with dwindling supplies, some Kenyan traders are smuggling donkeys in from neighboring countries. After a safe passage into Kenya through its porous borders, the traders acquire permits from local authorities before transporting them to abattoirs.

“I usually buy them in Tanzania and then move them into Kenya through informal routes,” one trader tells Quartz. Lately, he says, he isn’t guaranteed on getting adequate stock from Tanzania to meet his 60 donkeys-per-week target. On noticing the donkeys are taken for slaughter and export to China, the sellers in Tanzania decided to raise prices, he says.

The dwindling numbers of donkeys in East Africa and especially Kenya is signal that donkeys are heading the way of Elephants and Rhino.