Donkey owners schooled on better animal care

Members of the United Donkey Youth Riders of Mwea receive a trophy from donkey welfare organisations. [Muriithi Mugo, Standard]

A programme aimed at educating donkey owners on proper animal care has started bearing fruit.

For many years, a badly wounded donkey hauling an overloaded cart full of bags of rice was a common feature in the paddy fields of Mwea in Kirinyaga County.

Such scenes are becoming rare as donkey owners have adopted new ways of treating their animals following civic education.

The programme also looked into eradicating alcohol and substance abuse in the region. 

“Bhang and alcohol abuse is quite common among donkey riders and there are so many other bad vices associated with them and these are the things the programme has addressed,” said Cyrus Gitonga, the Kirinyaga Donkey Owners Association chairperson.

Started three years ago, the programme was sponsored by Brooke East Africa and Kenya Network for the Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies.

The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse was also part of the programme.

Vincent Oloo from Brooke East Africa said the programme has registered positive results citing reduced donkey theft cases that were rampant before.

“The efforts are bearing fruit as incidences of owners mistreating donkeys have gone down," he added.