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Institution calls for sustained efforts to boost donkey numbers
Donkeys in a farm. Brooke East Africa, an animal rights initiative warns that donkey numbers are fast declining threatening the extinction of the animal.
Photo credit: Lou Benoist | AFP
What you need to know:
- Elijah Mithigi, the programmes manager at Brooke East Africa, which deals with donkeys, said the dwindling number of the animal is a concern.
- The breeding of donkeys is painfully challenging, from conception to birth, making large-scale commercial production very difficult.
- Kenya has become the epicentre of donkey trade, with 15 per cent of the country’s donkey population being slaughtered between April 2016 and December 2018.
The current rise in trade of donkey skin threatens the species and livelihoods of communities dependent on the animal, a lobby organisation has said.
Elijah Mithigi, the programmes manager at Brooke East Africa, which deals with donkeys, said the dwindling number of the animal is a concern, noting sustained breeding is an option to help boost the species.
