To Sate China’s Demand, African Donkeys Are Stolen and Skinned
“All of us — the donkey owners, the veterinary professionals — are against the trade,
but the government is not taking a keen interest on this because it provides income to them.”
According to the most recent census in 2009, Kenya had some 1.8 million donkeys supporting an estimated 10 million people.
Mr. Chesebe explained that the slaughterhouse also limits its purchases of dried skins to those sold by Turkana people — because, he said, “everyone knows
that only Turkana eat donkeys” — and to fresh skins from sellers who claim their animals died on the way to the abattoir.
As demand increased, China’s donkey population — once the world’s largest — has fallen to fewer than six million from 11 million,
and by some estimates possibly to as few as three million.
NAIROBI, Kenya — “This is the spot,” said Morris Njeru, gazing down at a tangled patch of farmland
where he recently found the bloody corpses of David, Mukurino and Scratch — his last donkeys.
“Instead of having to sell cows and goats, Maasai pastoralists are selling donkeys to pay their children’s school fees.”
Goldox Donkey Slaughterhouse in Baringo County — the largest of Kenya’s abattoirs, claiming to process some 450 donkeys a day
— also attempts to spread good will by providing free water to neighbors, and by paying school fees for four local children.
