It’s a dog’s life for cows in Kenya

It was too good to be true; the Government trooping to the arid patches of the land to deliver aid. It was a study in contrast —chubby Government functionaries, bathed, perfumed and well-fed mixing it with their tired, hungry and desperate dusty subjects.

And they brought goodies — water, grain and the promise of buying bony emaciated cattle at Sh8,000 a head. Looking at the state and general body condition of those livestock, one wondered whether they were really fit for human consumption. But it was not an issue for the Government functionaries — they don’t buy their meat at Burma.

So the sorry-looking emaciated things were ferried to the Kenya Meat Commission. Most died on the way, a few died while getting offloaded and many that made the long tedious journey were turned away because they were unfit for human consumption.

Animal holocaust

Interestingly, the people at KMC knew pretty well that the reason the animals were brought to their grounds was to die, so no one remembered to provide water or fodder so more of the emaciated things starved to death.

Last week, the nation was treated to the macabre sight of a KMC worker cruelly hauling a carcass by tractor on the ground to a mass grave on national television. It is a livestock holocaust — callous, cruel and despicable.

In a sense, being born an animal in Kenya is generally a dog’s life.

In this country, people own dogs but they have no idea what they eat or where they sleep. Livestock walk tens of kilometres every day in search of water. And when they are transported to the slaughterhouse, in crowded trucks without a morsel to eat, they get killed so cruelly, like they had committed murder.

People make a living out of donkeys but they don’t feed or treat them when they fall ill. The beasts are overworked, beaten up and slashed with machetes. Everyone loves chicken yet the birds are transported so roughly, trussed up like criminals, atop hot, windy public service vehicles.

For a people who pretend to have a traditional bond with animals, we sure treat them like dirt.