Donkey Farmers and animal rights defenders in South and North Rift regions have raised alarm over what they term is continued defiance of ban on donkey slaughter.
The ban was issued by the Government on February 24 this year.
But according to the farmers many of the donkey slaughterhouses have continued to defy the ban and now going on with the donkey slaughter businesses.
The farmers led by spokesperson Kenya Donkey Farmers Association Isaac Laisa ,they expressed their anger over the continued operation of the donkey slaughterhouses despite the ban.
He says due to the same,theft cases have been on the rise with 29 cases having been reported in Narok,12 in Bomet and 4 in Baringo recently.
Farmers have continued to incur loss and that is why we are calling on government to ensure the ban is enforced” said Laisa.
Sentiments echoed by Ms Tina Talai who lost four donkeys.Fortunately,for her she traced and found three of them before they were headed for slaughter at Mogotio based Goldox slaughterhouse.
“The donkey theft is on the rise.I lost four but traced them and found three of them just before they could be slaughtered” she said.
According to the Farming Systems Kenya-an NGO that is working with farmers to eradicate poverty in society,the continued slaughter of donkeys has let to a lot of loss to the donkey farmers.
The organization says the defiance of the ban is a threat to farmers as they loose donkeys through theft.
FSK says only only two slaughterhouses have complied with the ban.
Executive Director Farming Systems Kenya Dr.Raphael Kinoti has questioned why the government has continued to allow the donkey slaughterhouses to operate despite the ban.
“We are worried as farmers as to why the government has continued to allow donkey slaughterhouses to operate yet there was a ban announced in February” said Kinoti.
He adds that the curfew period has seen more donkey theft and they end up being slaughtered with the cases on the rise since March.
Similar cases have also been reported in Bomet and Eldama Ravine areas.
Despite farmers raising the concerns with relevant authority,the reports have been ignored.
For this reason the farmers through the Farming Systems Kenya have called on the government to ensure the ban on donkey slaughterhouses is implemented.
“We call on the Government to ensure action on the the two slaughterhouses still operating in Baringo and Naivasha” said Kinoti.
He added that as Farming Systems Kenya they admit that there are harsh economic times for the farmers due to COVID-19 and donkey theft.
According to Kinoti,the donkey slaughterhouses were in export business but then there was a ban hence a question of where the meat from the continued donkey slaughter is being taken to.
FSK has vowed to join farmers in demanding for legal action against donkey slaughterhouses that are still operating on defiance of the ban.
“As FSK,we are perturbed by the continued defiance of the slaughterhouses.The farmers are now thinking of going to court to petition the government” said Kinoti.