Donkey numbers plunge as Kajiado farmers fight rising skin smuggling

Farmers in Kajiado are racing to protect their donkeys from a booming underground trade in skins, even as Kenya’s donkey population plunges to historic lows.

More than 300 donkeys were recently vaccinated in Mairua, Kajiado Central, in a programme supported by the Africa Fund for Animal Welfare. The effort comes as communities brace against rising threats of theft and illegal slaughter.

 “We are seeing more donkeys because the image of them being slaughtered in Tanzania has scared people into action,” said Dr Dennis Bahati from the Africa Fund for Animal Welfare.

 Farmers say the animals are more than beasts of burden; they are lifelines. Anne Meitiaki, a resident of Maidun, said donkeys carried water, food and people during emergencies when roads were impassable.

 “Punda helps us a lot. When fire breaks out or roads are blocked, we carry food and water with it,” said Meitiaki.

 Paul Roine, a farmer from Mailua, explained how donkeys also kept farms running during floods and droughts.

 “When the vehicle cannot pass, we put food and water in the punda and use it as transport. Even when we are sick, it carries us,” said Roine.

 The crisis goes beyond local hardship. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, donkey numbers dropped from 1.8 million in 2009 to about one million in 2019. As of 2024, the figure has fallen to below 500,000 — a decline of more than 70 per cent in 15 years.

 Animal welfare groups warn that the illegal skin trade, driven by demand in China, is fuelling the drop.

 “We are deeply concerned about the rising cases of smuggling of donkey skin to the Far East,” said Raphael Kinoti, chief executive of Brooke East Africa. “This has seen the number of our donkeys drop sharply in the last ten years.”

 Kinoti said the peak of theft occurred between 2016 and 2022, especially in Kajiado and Turkana counties. He noted that although the government banned donkey slaughterhouses in 2020, traders have shifted to using the sea after airlines stopped accepting donkey product shipments.

 “The Rapid Result Initiative helped reduce theft, but Nairobi and Kiambu remain hotbeds of uninspected donkey meat,” said Kinoti.

In 2023, 4,738 donkeys were slaughtered daily, far exceeding the licensed slaughterhouse capacity of 900. The national ban saved an estimated 1.5 million donkeys but also disrupted exports to China, where the skin is used in traditional medicine.

 As smuggling networks grow more sophisticated, farmers in Kajiado say they have no choice but to act.

 “We love punda very much. It is very important to us,” said Meitiaki.