When you step to areas that experience water problem, notably, the first item that will be common to your eyes are hundreds of animal-driven carts. In such areas with water shortage, donkeys are subject to the exercise of pulling the carts, commonly known as Mikokoteni in Swahili.
Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse or animal neglect, is the intentional infliction by humans of suffering or harm upon any non-human animal, regardless of whether the act is against the law.
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| Donkeys awaiting for allocation of duties |
It is understood that a donkey or ass was probably one of the first animals to be used for transport and subjected under varied environmental conditions. Donkeys are hardy and willing domesticated beasts of burden and can carry heavy loads of up to 85Kgs.
History shows that they were mostly adopted in Egypt as the main method of transport as early as 3400BC. During that time, traders would also prefer to use them alongside camels and horses between Nubia and Southern Sudan in transporting items for trading.
A good number of donkeys are still used today in most communities in Kenya for carrying items such as firewood, agricultural products during harvesting to market places and water. In Ukambani region for example,they are the most suitable mode of transport used in fetching water while in Lamu, donkeys are used to transport people from one area to another.
Christians understand that donkeys were a great symbol of industry, peace, and at times, wealth. In most cases, we see donkeys serving in many occasions behind the scenes and helping where possible. Even in this current century, they are determined to be the most reliable helpers amongst the pets, surefooted on mountainous terrain, physically hardy in harsh environments and strong burden carriers.
The worry – Cruelty to donkeys
In many regions around the country, Donkeys are forced to do more work than what their small bodies can handle and are very poorly taken care of.
If you take a walk in the streets of Kitengela in Kajiado County, you will notice hundreds of carts driven by exhausted donkeys breathing deeply due to tiresome loads of containers containing water. They normally pull a cart containing tens of heavy containers throughout the day.
Owners will always strive to ensure that they fetch as much water as they can in a single day and this leads to beating up the donkeys with hard objects causing injuries and scars on their bodies. The do not bother about planning for a veterinary care program to the injured donkeys.
The owners are normally much more interested with the profits they make at the end of the day and do whatever they could to ferry as much water as they can, not caring about what and when the donkey will feed. This is cruel.
It is a sad irony that it’s a donkey’s ability to suffer in silence that has made it the most abused animal in different regions around the country. Docile and trusting, with its doleful eyes and long ears, the donkey stoically carries on the pain when injured, hiding its sufferings. So it’s unfair destiny has historically been one of cruelty and mistreatment.
Head hanging down, the donkey struggles pressing on in the blazing heat, pulling an extraordinary heavy cart filled with containers of water. Pulling a cart that weigh more than itself, the skinny animal sometimes get tired, but is urged on by the owner who hit anywhere in its body with sticks. This is shocking as donkeys in hundreds still have to endure great suffering where humans treat them like machines.
Most of the animal-pulled carts are made up of heavy metallic materials which in itself can lead injuries. While they spent a whole day working, the possibility is that, they can go without food as the owners may not be interested to establish a good feeding program for them.
Kenya Society for the Protection and Care to Animals will have to set in and advance the regulations and laws to save the donkey in Kenya. It is important to present operating regulations to anyone who uses a donkey to make money. It should be an offence to the owners if they let their donkeys to suffer in injuries and scars due to beatings. There is need to state the maximum amount of loads that the donkeys should carry at an instance. It is also very important to step in and ensure that donkeys are not subjected to work for a whole day; the owners should let the work in specific hours.
A deliberate action to save the donkey will need to be negotiated with concerned authorities. Kenya Society for the Protection and Care to Animals should work with the country administration and the counties to establish and adopt outlets of protecting this unique animal.
