Why technology is not a solution to dwindling donkey population

An expert has warned that Artificial Intelligence may not solve the problem of the dwindling donkey population. 

The demand for donkey has been on the rise as China opened the market for goods from Kenya. However, cases of smuggling and theft of donkeys have been reported.

Speaking on Wednesday on a Farmers TV Special on whether donkey breeding can be a solution to the unsatiable global skin trade, Dr Raphael Kinoti said freezing donkey semen reduces its viability to between zero and 10 per cent.

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Dr Kinoti is a veterinary surgeon and also the Farming Systems Kenya CEO. He is also chairman of the Alliance of Donkey Welfare Organisations in Kenya.

"There isn't any technology to date on how one can store semen for donkeys," he added. 

There is a huge demand for donkey skin in China. Some 1.8 million skins are traded every year but the demand is as high as 10 million.

According to a report dubbed The Status of Donkey Slaughter in Kenya and Its Implication on Community Livelihoods done by KALRO and others, 301,977 donkeys were slaughtered in four slaughterhouses between April 2016 and December 2018.

Twenty-seven per cent of all the donkeys that were slaughtered were pregnant, which in essence disrupts the reproduction rate.

Five-point-one per cent of the donkey population is slaughtered annually, which is five times higher than the annual donkey population growth rate.

Sharing the sentiments was Dr Kinoti, who said the majority of Kenyan farmers specifically keep donkeys for the labour.

"An animal that has a load on its back every day for a year will rarely breed," he said.

The donkey is a hard breeder, the veterinary said.

When put together on free-range, only 40-45 per cent of the donkeys will conceive. 

According to Dr Kinoti, before 2016 when the slaughterhouses were opened, there were rare cases of donkey theft.

Previously, the theft cases stood at one in every three months. But after the abattoirs were opened, "flood gates opened up".

In Narok, Bomet, Baringo and Nakuru, Dr Kinoti said he would receive up to 80 cases of donkey theft.

Last year in May, KALRO published a report on the status of donkeys in Kenya. It stated that between 2016 and 2018, some 4,000 cases of donkey theft were recorded in police stations across the country.

"But farmers would rarely report donkey theft cases. The estimate is that there was an equal number of cases that were not reported," Dr Kinoti said.

Within three years of slaughtering, farmers are losing between 10,000 and 15,000 donkeys.

"It is painful when donkey owners bump into carcasses of their donkeys strewn in the bush with only the skin taken away. It is a day of mourning to the pastoralist communities because of how the donkey died."

Dr Kinoti said the legal slaughter of donkeys has a direct correlation with the theft of donkeys.