Gov’t Orders Shutdown of Donkey Slaughterhouses in Kenya

The government has ordered the shutdown of donkey slaughterhouses in Kenya within a month.

The directive was issued by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya following the growing cases of donkey theft in the country fueled by the high demand for their skin in China.

Gangs have been stealing donkeys for their skin, which is used to make Chinese medicines. Chinese boil donkey skin to make ejiao, a traditional medicine believed to stop ageing and boost libido.

Kenya has four licensed donkey abattoirs, the most in the continent, making it the main supplier of donkey skin to China. About 1,000 donkeys are slaughtered in the four slaughterhouses a day, according to government data.

Due to the high demand for ejiao in China, a black market emerged with criminals hired by skin-smuggling networks to steal donkeys.

“We want to stop that criminality. We want to stop that brutality,” said CS Munya during a meeting with protesting donkey owners in Nairobi.

“(We want) to restore the donkey to its rightful place in our society – that of supporting livelihoods and providing crucial transport that is not easy to get, especially for the lower echelons of our society.”

In less than three years, over 300,000 donkeys, representing 15 percent of Kenya’s population, have been slaughtered for skin and meat export, according to the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). During the period, more than 4,000 donkeys were reported stolen.

In a report last year, KALRO warned the continued slaughter of donkeys could wipe out the animals by 2023 since they were being slaughtered at a rate five times higher than their population was growing.

A kilogram of ejiao currently retails at $780 in China from about $30 in 2000, according to reports in China.