Animal welfare experts push for healthier diets, maternity leave for donkeys

The dwindling donkey numbers is a matter of concern to the animals’ welfare community as it is a warning of a soon-to-be extinct animal species, if owners and trafficking curtails are not tamed.

In the African setup, donkeys are kept not as pets but as human co-workers since they make work easy. The idea of donkey entitlement to mating, a maternity leave and well-balanced diet in most cases is neither here nor there.

Majority of people within communities which bank on donkeys have been accused of mistreating and violating donkey rights while at the same time expect their unwavering service.

Curtailing donkeys mating rights, opportunity to go on a maternity leave, corporal punishment, denying them medical attention, overlooking sheltering them, overloading as well as overworking them are considered working animal mistreatment, which animal supporters feel should be offence under the prevention of cruelty to animal protection laws.

The animal experts have observed that, a majority of donkey owners in Kenya have reservation and a criterion marred with beliefs of the sexes of donkeys to keep and why; It is habitual to either castrate or inject female donkeys with chemicals to prevent them from giving birth. The reason for stopping the animals from reproducing is so as not to disrupt donkey working cycle.

Researchers have observed that, in most cases women prefer to work with female donkeys due to the belief that they’re well-mannered and humble and not as stubborn as their male counter parts.

Men who use donkeys, prefer working with male sexes due to the belief that they’re hardworking and reliable to work longer hours, unlike their female counterparts believed to be lazy.

In the past years, donkey numbers have continuously dropped drastically for several reasons, which need solutions to save the donkey species from extinction.

Between 2016 and 2019, an increase in the international demand for donkey meat and skin led to the establishment and licensing of donkey slaughter houses.

Kenyan authorities licensed four donkey slaughter houses, and around that time, a successful lobby led to the closure of the slaughter houses. However, illegal donkey skin and meat trafficking is still a major hindrance to donkey population.

It is alleged that donkeys are still being slaughtered in secrecy and skin is illegally exported while meat is sold to unsuspecting Kenyans.

The Kenyan government banned commercial slaughter of donkeys following rise in animal theft which is yet to be tamed.

Extreme weather conditions like prolonged droughts deprive donkey owners of the precious animal despite of it being among the animals that can tolerate dry weather over a period of time.

“Biological orientation is another hindrance to donkey population; a donkey is such that twinning is rare and Artificial Insemination (AI) can’t be done on donkeys,” said Samuel Theuri, Senior Advocacy and Innovation Officer of Brooke East Africa (BEA).

According to research by PubMed Central, it is universally accepted that insemination is more complicated in donkeys, since the lumen of a donkey cervix is narrowed and tortuous, plus the vaginal portion of the cervix may have various conformations; the aspects representing a challenge for routine intrauterine procedures such as Artificial Insemination (AI), hence reporting of lower pregnancy cases by several authors.

Due to their chromosome orientation, donkeys rarely give birth to twins and when they do the last born would be relatively smaller as a result of chromosomal imbalance.

A donkey matures at one year and undergo a gestation period of 12-14 months that is a year or more, meaning one donkey can only give birth to one once every year, good enough females typically enter into heat regularly hence they are pretty easy when it comes to the conditions that they need to reproduce.

Donkey community has advised donkey owners to keep both male and female donkeys without interfering with their reproduction system whatsoever, to allow them mate regularly to boost donkey population.

The livestock specialists have emphasized on the importance of the donkey and its contribution to the well-being of households and boosting the economy of a nation.

“A donkey should be allowed to go on a maternity leave and have healthier diet during gestation period. Donkeys directly contribute to your well-being and it needs kind treatment,” explained Dr. Vincent Oloo, an animal welfare officer at Brooke East Africa (BEA).

“Do you know that a donkey is entitled to your plate of sukuma wiki? Look at it this way, for kales to reach your home they must have come from a farm somewhere in a village where the famer used a donkey to ferry a sack to the market.”

An expectant donkey needs a feeding plan to boost body nutrients. For a pregnant donkey, there should be limited grazing, they should be feed on moderate quality roughage, protein rich concentrate and minerals for instance barley straw, forage balancer, short chop hay replacer.

October 4th is World Animal Day, a day set aside to promote animal welfare and raise awareness about the rights and needs of animals worldwide. This year’s theme is ‘The world is their home too.’