Brooke East Africa | Brooke
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Archived: 2026-04-23 17:14
Brooke East Africa | Brooke
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Brooke East Africa
We set up the first Brooke East Africa office in Kenya in 2013, and since then have gradually expanded into Somaliland, South Sudan, Tanzania and part of Northern Uganda.
Tabs
About
At a glance
Brooke East Africa works in 22 counties within Kenya, Somaliland, South Sudan, Tanzania and part of Northern Uganda, through a strategic partnership model engagement.
This pool of partners with varied expertise and experiences has enabled achieve key milestones with significant reach across the region.
In South Sudan, working through partners we have trained 189 frontline Local Service Providers (Community Animal Health Workers, government vets, livestock extension officers and farriers) on equine healthcare, and subsidised their group-managed clinics with veterinary supplies on a recovery basis, enabling them to offer healthcare extension services to 8,030 equines annually.
In Kenya, as well as our success in securing a country ban on donkey slaughter in Kenya we are also closely monitoring cross-border activity between East and West Africa, trade routes in Asia and Central America, and supporting our sister organisation Brooke USA in their efforts to ban the import of ejiao products to the US.
Our work in Tanzania focuses on tackling the cross border donkey skin trade and other donkey welfare issues.
Take a closer look
A large proportion of Kenya’s 1.17 million donkeys are found in semi-arid areas where they are used by women to transport water and firewood. Others are used in agricultural areas to transport farm produce to markets and households and in urban areas for transporting commercial goods and water vending services.
Despite the heavy reliance on equines, they are often affected by poor welfare including wounding and bruising from misuse and abuse, malnutrition, dehydration, diseases, hoof abnormalities, eye conditions and respiratory problems.
How we started
In 2013, Brooke East Africa set up office in Nairobi, Kenya and then gradually expanded in to 22 counties. In the course of this growth we expanded into Somaliland, South Sudan, Tanzania and part of Northern Uganda, through a strategic partnership engagement model.
This pool of partners was engaged based on varied expertise and experiences, something that has enabled us to achieve key milestones with significant reach in our programme across the region as we aim to positively impact vulnerable working equines and their communities in the region.
Our approach
We work on the frontline with donkey-owning communities. Brooke East Africa and their partners have helped to set up over 400 groups with over 9,000 members.
We fund community-led initiatives to protect their donkeys.
We add resources on the ground to expand lobbying and community engagement.
We mobilise communities and help them gather evidence and present it to their governments.
We support governments in the inclusion and delivery of the animal/ equine welfare in the Higher education teaching curriculum of the veterinary schools and middle level colleges offering diploma and certificate in veterinary courses.
We get the issue on the worldwide agenda by alerting the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Find out more about our work in East Africa
Tel: +254 700 307709
[email protected]
2nd Floor, Mwalimu Towers
Hill Lane
Off Mara Road
PO Box 43220 - 00100
Nairobi
Kenya
Our work
Donkey Skin Trade
The donkey skin trade is one of the issues Brooke East Africa is currently pushing to put an end to, in the wake of increased demand from China, where donkey hides are used to produce
ejiao
, a Chinese traditional medicine.
Following persistent petitions, Kenyan abattoirs were banned from slaughtering donkeys in March 2020, a positive feat that lasted for at least a year before the ban was lifted in May 2021 by the Kenyan high court.
However, the slaughter of donkeys is yet to resume, with the ministry of agriculture hesitant to issue licences following an outcry from donkey-owning communities, who claim that the slaughter will deplete and threaten to overwhelm donkeys that play a big role in their daily activities.
According to the 2019 KALRO report, a total of 301, 977 animals were slaughtered between 2016 and 2018, representing a 31% annual decrease.
Learn more about the status of
donkey slaughter in Kenya and its implications
(PDF).
Find out more about the
impact on women of donkey theft in Kenya
.
Community Action Groups
Together with our East Africa partners, we work to change communities’ attitudes and practises associated with poor welfare and to promote skills such as correct harnessing and handling.
In a bid to actualize the agenda, we established community action groups that put donkey owners in touch with trained health service providers, allowing them to support each other in caring for the donkeys.
Donkey Care Clubs
Brooke East Africa runs Donkey Care Clubs designed to engage children in improving the welfare of equines since school-going kids are part-time animal caregivers at home.
In collaboration with its partners, BEA trains primary school kids from donkey-owning communities on donkey welfare to build a future where the general public cares for donkeys.
Yearly, partners in collaboration with BEA organise a Donkey Care Club talent show where kids express their talents based on donkey welfare information.
In November 2021 Caritas Kitui organised a virtual talent show where school-going kids presented donkey welfare content judged virtually due to the effects of COVID-19.
Among the kids who presented an item was Kiteme Ngoi of Tulimani Primary School, who did a Swahili solo chant highlighting the contribution of donkeys to the community.
Watch video
: Kiteme Ngoi of Tulimani Primary School does a Swahili solo chanting at the Donkey Care Club talent show with the goal of highlighting the contribution of donkeys to the community.
Drought Preparedness
In recent years, drought has been a charging challenge in most parts of Kenya, prompting Brooke East Africa to work with affected communities to improve water management and preservation as well as develop new ways of managing fodder, to ensure donkeys do not starve.
Healthy donkeys assure communities of undeterred help in completing daily chores with ease.
Training Service Providers
We provide training and support to local health service providers and community-based animal health workers.
Topics covered by our training include equine welfare & handling, pain recognition & management and donkey diseases. In addition, we connect donkey owners with health service providers so their animals can get good quality healthcare.
We are currently recruiting training service providers. To register, please fill out the form below.
Brooke East Africa registration.docx
27.38 KB
National Donkey Day
National Donkey Day
, celebrated on 17 May yearly, took place yet again in 2021 at a time when donkey owners and donkey welfare organizations were outraged over court orders that lifted ban on slaughter which has since threatened donkeys’ existence.
During the celebration, Brooke EA with its partners raised awareness on donkeys’ importance, highlighting how the donkey owning communities will suffer if donkeys slaughter resumes following the lifted ban.
See also
Brooke East Africa office research
The Brooke East Africa team share their findings at the International Colloquium on Working Equids in London.
Success stories
Donkey harnessing improves
in Kitui, Kenya
Donkey harnessing is a cause of lesions on donkeys. The Kaliluni women's group in Kitui, the eastern part of Kenya, identified this and decided to act upon it. Through training and sensitisation by
Brooke
and
Caritas
officials, the women's group started to engage in sisal rope making.
However, they found it tedious to use the traditional sisal processing tools. After several savings meetings, they agreed to plant sisal and buy a peeling machine to ease the pressure on their time. True to their plan, the machine is making their work easier. Many of them now engage in other social activities while still making sisal.
I remember missing my son's graduation ceremony because it was my turn to make sisal for my group. However, after we got the machine, I was able to attend my daughter's graduation while meeting my obligation of making sisal for the group.
Agnes, a member of the Kaliluni Donkey Welfare group.
Pictured: A Kaliluni donkey welfare group member peels the sisal using a traditional method.
Initially, many donkeys were struggling on the road to complete a hard-hitting journey while nursing unbearable pain due to poor harnessing practises, but now, a majority of donkeys have no wounds. Indeed, the wide-fiber sisal ropes has reduced the prevalence of wounds on working donkeys, and the surplus realised from the rope-making project has enabled the women to access other donkey health and welfare services.
Brooke
in partnership with Caritas Kitui linked the Kaliluni women's group rope makers to over 82 donkey welfare groups, making the dream of having no donkey with wounds a reality for thousands of owners.
Until now, at least 1,117 donkeys have benefited from the project, making a working donkey’s life worth living, free from body lesions.
My donkey had a lot of wounds before we started the sisal making projects. Now my donkeys and those of my neighbour hardly have wounds, they are happy. Through the proceeds that we get from selling welfare-friendly materials to donkey owners, I'm able to pay school fees for my children and also buy basic needs. My working donkey is also a beneficiary of the project. I can now properly harness my donkey.
Josephine John, another member of the Kaliluni women group.
The Kaliluni donkey welfare group members examine the Sisal peeling machine before use.
In sight: a future where donkeys smile
Working donkeys in parts of East Africa’s regions have been facing harsh cruelty from users and owners who care less about their welfare so long as they fulfill their transport needs. For them, the need for better equine welfare was alien, leaving equine wellbeing at risk with owners severely whipping the donkeys to keep up with the pace despite being overloaded.
Having noted this menace,
Brooke
and its partner organisations started donkey care clubs among school-going children in the donkey-owning communities to create a future where human beings have compassion towards animals. Through the club, school-going children receive training on the importance of animal welfare since they are part of animal caregivers at home, improving donkey welfare since they train parents and their communities on better animal welfare.
Brooke
in partnership with Caritas Kitui organises an annual talent show for the donkey care clubs, focusing on animal welfare content, which now helps educate the community on the need to create a life worth living for the working equines. The DCC children have also been using their creative sense with available resources to create mosaics, necklaces, and drawings that educate the public and push for better animal welfare.
Since the inception of the donkey care club, equine welfare has improved, with donkey owners and users showing compassion towards animals.
Caren smiles again as her donkey receives treatment
Caren is a donkey owner from Bondo, Kenya. She relies on her donkey to feed her family since it helps with housework such as fetching water and other tasks.
However, Caren's life took a worse turn when her donkey developed an ear infection, preventing her donkey from working, making her life and that of the donkeys unbearable. She had to start carrying water on her back, a situation that threatened her health. When Caren could not manage to carry water on her back, she decided to hire a donkey from a neighbour, forcing her to dig deep into her savings, threatening to render her bankrupt.
But, thanks to
Brooke
and partner organisation
Support for Tropical Initiative in Poverty Alleviation (STIPA)
for organising a donkey medical camp in her locality, where her donkey got medical attention. Brooke and STIPA qualified vets removed parasites from Caren's donkey ear, alleviating the suffering of her donkey and the trouble she had to go through carrying water on her back. The decision to hold the medical camp aligns with the third animal freedom goal of ensuring that all animals are free of pain, injury, or disease through prevention and treatment.
At least 200 donkeys were treated during the medical camp. Caren, a beneficiary, now completes her house chores, including fetching water, with ease, saving herself the trouble of hiring a donkey.
Agrovet branding eases work for donkey owners
Donkeys in some rural parts of Kenya often fail to get medical attention owing to a lack of equine veterinary services and medicine, leaving most donkeys to work while enduring pain from body lesions and other medical complications. Along the road, one notices donkeys working with open wounds while others seem sickly, with donkey owners hoping for better health without seeking medical services because of the inaccessibility of donkey veterinary services.
To solve the problem,
Brooke
, in partnership with
Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies (KENDAT)
, joined forces with strategic agro-vets to serve donkey owners among the donkey-owning communities in remote areas.
Six agro-vets in Tharaka Nithi, Embu, and Laikipia counties received training through the continuous
Agrovet Quality Monitoring (AQM)
program, which equipped them with the necessary knowledge to provide quality animal health services and advise to donkey owners and users. The agro vets were equipped with relevant donkey drugs, saving users and owners the trouble of traveling long distances to get veterinary advise and services for their donkeys.
The project also made the identification of selected agro vets easier since they were branded with visible APS material for easy identification among donkey owners, including the agro vet’s name, KENDAT, and Brooke logos, alongside donkey welfare messages.
With the branding of agro vets, donkey owners now have easy access to vet services and advise on how to improve the welfare of their donkeys. The agro vets were equipped with learning materials on donkey husbandry practises such as ectoparasite control, hoof care, home-based wound care management, and disease prevention such as rabies and tetanus for distribution to donkey owners.
Until now, the project has seen an increase in the number of donkey owners seeking help from these agro vets, playing a critical role in ensuring sustainable veterinary service provision among donkey-owning communities.
A notable change in donkey welfare can now be seen in the area, with donkeys having less or no body lesions and looking healthy.
Kenya: Homa Bay regains glow after the donkey slaughter blow
With the instigation of donkey slaughter in Kenya, its effects ravaged donkey owners who depended on donkeys to make their lives easier, putting loads on women's backs. Homa Bay County is one of the counties in Kenya that felt the effects of the donkey slaughter, with its donkey population decreasing by 4,649 donkeys in a decade. According to the 2009 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics census, the county's donkey population was 18,789.
"My life became unbearable after I lost two donkeys through theft in 2019. I used to make a lot of money before losing my donkeys, but I thank Brooke and Send a Cow for the God-sent training, which has enabled us to stay strong despite the challenges of donkey theft. With increased income from the farm, we started a merry-go-round for donkey replacements. So far, we are on donkey number five, and I hope that by May 2022, we will replace donkeys lost. - Peter Dianga"
The demand for donkey skin trade resulted in donkey theft, putting pressure on the remaining donkeys, women in the area forced to carry water on their backs during dry seasons. However, after
Brooke
and its partner organisation
Send a Cow
implemented a sensitisation program to improve equine welfare for sustainable livelihoods, Homa Bay is now regaining its glow.
Through the project, donkey welfare groups received training that enabled them to venture into vegetable farming, with proceeds from the business pooled together to replace donkeys lost due to the effects of the donkey skin trade.
One of the beneficiaries, Peter Dianga, says they could not have made great strides without the sensitisation and support from Brooke and Send A cow, after donkey slaughter ripped them off their donkeys through theft.
Apart from farming, the donkey welfare groups has adopted fodder production to ensure adequate quality feed for the donkeys and promote afforestation by espousing seedling production through tree nursery establishments.
The fodder goes a long way towards ensuring the availability of alternative feeds for donkeys during dry seasons, while trees act as environmental conservation methods to increase vegetation cover and, in the long term, bear positive effects on the welfare of donkey including shades.
Tanzania shuts down donkey abattoir
The donkey-owning communities in Tanzania are celebrating after the government shut down a donkey abattoir that has been taking a toll on the donkey population for violating animal welfare, humane slaughter, and slaughterhouse hygiene.
In a letter dated August 12, 2021 the Tanzanian Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries annulled a provisional permit allotted to Fang Hua Investment Company Ltd. in Ibadakuli, Shinyanga region.
According to the ministry, the donkey skin trade is prohibited in Tanzania until the donkey population surpasses ten million. Tanzania’s donkey population stood at 595,000 in 2018.
Brooke
and partner organisations,
Arusha Society for the Protection of Animals (ASPA)
and the
African Institute for Economic and Social Development in Tanzania (INADES-TZ)
, played a major role in achieving the ban, working closely with the Tanzanian government in a bid to ban the hide trade, which affected thousands of people dependent on donkeys.
According to the
African Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW)
, many donkeys were stolen from Kenya and Uganda and illegally smuggled across the borders.
The Shinyanga plant is one the donkey slaughterhouses established by Chinese investors in Tanzania to enable a reportedly lucrative trade in donkey skins that are used to extract gelatin needed for the production of ejiao, traditional Chinese medicine that is said to allegedly treat anaemia, reproductive issues, and insomnia.
The Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency reported that the numbers dropped from about 1.5 million in 2016 to 595,000 in 2018. By contrast, Kenya has about 1.2 million donkeys, compared with 1.8 million a decade ago, according to the latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
Challenges
Our next steps
Since its inception in 2013, Brooke East Africa, through partnerships with animal welfare organisations and other relevant partners, has been working to achieve immediate and lasting change in the lives of working equines and the communities that depend on them for rural development projects.
Although we have made great strides in achieving this, there is still more to do. Below are some of the major challenges we are facing and the countermeasures we are planning to overcome them.
Donkey Skin Trade
The donkey skin trade has dealt a blow to donkey-owning communities in East Africa. However, through advocacy meetings and working closely with the relevant government bodies, Brooke East Africa and partners managed to halt the donkey skin trade in Tanzania and Kenya, where the hide trade had taken a toll on the donkey population.
Donkey slaughter is now prohibited in Tanzania until the population of donkeys reaches ten million.
In Kenya, the High Court overturned a ban on donkey slaughter. However, donkey slaughter is still yet to resume after the Ministry of Agriculture froze the issuance of licenses to abattoirs in response to complaints from donkey-owning communities.
Brooke East Africa and relevant partner organisations are now working on ensuring a total ban on the donkey skin trade, which has affected the livelihoods of communities that depend on them.
Animal welfare laws and legislation
Enacting and legislating animal welfare laws at the county level has also been challenging. Brooke East Africa is working with partners in respective counties to push for this, as it will hugely improve animal welfare in those counties. Only Isiolo County in Kenya currently has an animal welfare act.
Furthermore, Brooke East Africa is working closely with partners and relevant government bodies to ensure that animal welfare laws are implemented and that those who violate animal welfare laws are prosecuted under the law.
Sensitization and Adoption of the Five Domains of Animal Welfare
While donkey-owning communities have made progress in adopting the Five Domains of animal welfare (nutrition, environment , health, behavior and mental state), some communities are yet to ensure that their working equines have a life worth living.
To resolve some of the issues, Brooke East Africa works with local organizations to engage communities in the development of long-term animal welfare improvement Programme that are linked to improved livelihoods and resilience.
Furthermore, BEA and its partners train and mentor animal health and welfare service providers to improve the quality of veterinary services and connect them to communities.
Brooke East Africa also works with schools, educational institutions, and the media to improve animal welfare education and knowledge in a bid to create a generational change where people have compassion towards animals.
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Brooke East Africa
We set up the first Brooke East Africa office in Kenya in 2013, and since then have gradually expanded into Somaliland, South Sudan, Tanzania and part of Northern Uganda.
Tabs
About
At a glance
Brooke East Africa works in 22 counties within Kenya, Somaliland, South Sudan, Tanzania and part of Northern Uganda, through a strategic partnership model engagement.
This pool of partners with varied expertise and experiences has enabled achieve key milestones with significant reach across the region.
In South Sudan, working through partners we have trained 189 frontline Local Service Providers (Community Animal Health Workers, government vets, livestock extension officers and farriers) on equine healthcare, and subsidised their group-managed clinics with veterinary supplies on a recovery basis, enabling them to offer healthcare extension services to 8,030 equines annually.
In Kenya, as well as our success in securing a country ban on donkey slaughter in Kenya we are also closely monitoring cross-border activity between East and West Africa, trade routes in Asia and Central America, and supporting our sister organisation Brooke USA in their efforts to ban the import of ejiao products to the US.
Our work in Tanzania focuses on tackling the cross border donkey skin trade and other donkey welfare issues.
Take a closer look
A large proportion of Kenya’s 1.17 million donkeys are found in semi-arid areas where they are used by women to transport water and firewood. Others are used in agricultural areas to transport farm produce to markets and households and in urban areas for transporting commercial goods and water vending services.
Despite the heavy reliance on equines, they are often affected by poor welfare including wounding and bruising from misuse and abuse, malnutrition, dehydration, diseases, hoof abnormalities, eye conditions and respiratory problems.
How we started
In 2013, Brooke East Africa set up office in Nairobi, Kenya and then gradually expanded in to 22 counties. In the course of this growth we expanded into Somaliland, South Sudan, Tanzania and part of Northern Uganda, through a strategic partnership engagement model.
This pool of partners was engaged based on varied expertise and experiences, something that has enabled us to achieve key milestones with significant reach in our programme across the region as we aim to positively impact vulnerable working equines and their communities in the region.
Our approach
We work on the frontline with donkey-owning communities. Brooke East Africa and their partners have helped to set up over 400 groups with over 9,000 members.
We fund community-led initiatives to protect their donkeys.
We add resources on the ground to expand lobbying and community engagement.
We mobilise communities and help them gather evidence and present it to their governments.
We support governments in the inclusion and delivery of the animal/ equine welfare in the Higher education teaching curriculum of the veterinary schools and middle level colleges offering diploma and certificate in veterinary courses.
We get the issue on the worldwide agenda by alerting the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Find out more about our work in East Africa
Tel: +254 700 307709
[email protected]
2nd Floor, Mwalimu Towers
Hill Lane
Off Mara Road
PO Box 43220 - 00100
Nairobi
Kenya
Our work
Donkey Skin Trade
The donkey skin trade is one of the issues Brooke East Africa is currently pushing to put an end to, in the wake of increased demand from China, where donkey hides are used to produce
ejiao
, a Chinese traditional medicine.
Following persistent petitions, Kenyan abattoirs were banned from slaughtering donkeys in March 2020, a positive feat that lasted for at least a year before the ban was lifted in May 2021 by the Kenyan high court.
However, the slaughter of donkeys is yet to resume, with the ministry of agriculture hesitant to issue licences following an outcry from donkey-owning communities, who claim that the slaughter will deplete and threaten to overwhelm donkeys that play a big role in their daily activities.
According to the 2019 KALRO report, a total of 301, 977 animals were slaughtered between 2016 and 2018, representing a 31% annual decrease.
Learn more about the status of
donkey slaughter in Kenya and its implications
(PDF).
Find out more about the
impact on women of donkey theft in Kenya
.
Community Action Groups
Together with our East Africa partners, we work to change communities’ attitudes and practises associated with poor welfare and to promote skills such as correct harnessing and handling.
In a bid to actualize the agenda, we established community action groups that put donkey owners in touch with trained health service providers, allowing them to support each other in caring for the donkeys.
Donkey Care Clubs
Brooke East Africa runs Donkey Care Clubs designed to engage children in improving the welfare of equines since school-going kids are part-time animal caregivers at home.
In collaboration with its partners, BEA trains primary school kids from donkey-owning communities on donkey welfare to build a future where the general public cares for donkeys.
Yearly, partners in collaboration with BEA organise a Donkey Care Club talent show where kids express their talents based on donkey welfare information.
In November 2021 Caritas Kitui organised a virtual talent show where school-going kids presented donkey welfare content judged virtually due to the effects of COVID-19.
Among the kids who presented an item was Kiteme Ngoi of Tulimani Primary School, who did a Swahili solo chant highlighting the contribution of donkeys to the community.
Watch video
: Kiteme Ngoi of Tulimani Primary School does a Swahili solo chanting at the Donkey Care Club talent show with the goal of highlighting the contribution of donkeys to the community.
Drought Preparedness
In recent years, drought has been a charging challenge in most parts of Kenya, prompting Brooke East Africa to work with affected communities to improve water management and preservation as well as develop new ways of managing fodder, to ensure donkeys do not starve.
Healthy donkeys assure communities of undeterred help in completing daily chores with ease.
Training Service Providers
We provide training and support to local health service providers and community-based animal health workers.
Topics covered by our training include equine welfare & handling, pain recognition & management and donkey diseases. In addition, we connect donkey owners with health service providers so their animals can get good quality healthcare.
We are currently recruiting training service providers. To register, please fill out the form below.
Brooke East Africa registration.docx
27.38 KB
National Donkey Day
National Donkey Day
, celebrated on 17 May yearly, took place yet again in 2021 at a time when donkey owners and donkey welfare organizations were outraged over court orders that lifted ban on slaughter which has since threatened donkeys’ existence.
During the celebration, Brooke EA with its partners raised awareness on donkeys’ importance, highlighting how the donkey owning communities will suffer if donkeys slaughter resumes following the lifted ban.
See also
Brooke East Africa office research
The Brooke East Africa team share their findings at the International Colloquium on Working Equids in London.
Success stories
Donkey harnessing improves
in Kitui, Kenya
Donkey harnessing is a cause of lesions on donkeys. The Kaliluni women's group in Kitui, the eastern part of Kenya, identified this and decided to act upon it. Through training and sensitisation by
Brooke
and
Caritas
officials, the women's group started to engage in sisal rope making.
However, they found it tedious to use the traditional sisal processing tools. After several savings meetings, they agreed to plant sisal and buy a peeling machine to ease the pressure on their time. True to their plan, the machine is making their work easier. Many of them now engage in other social activities while still making sisal.
I remember missing my son's graduation ceremony because it was my turn to make sisal for my group. However, after we got the machine, I was able to attend my daughter's graduation while meeting my obligation of making sisal for the group.
Agnes, a member of the Kaliluni Donkey Welfare group.
Pictured: A Kaliluni donkey welfare group member peels the sisal using a traditional method.
Initially, many donkeys were struggling on the road to complete a hard-hitting journey while nursing unbearable pain due to poor harnessing practises, but now, a majority of donkeys have no wounds. Indeed, the wide-fiber sisal ropes has reduced the prevalence of wounds on working donkeys, and the surplus realised from the rope-making project has enabled the women to access other donkey health and welfare services.
Brooke
in partnership with Caritas Kitui linked the Kaliluni women's group rope makers to over 82 donkey welfare groups, making the dream of having no donkey with wounds a reality for thousands of owners.
Until now, at least 1,117 donkeys have benefited from the project, making a working donkey’s life worth living, free from body lesions.
My donkey had a lot of wounds before we started the sisal making projects. Now my donkeys and those of my neighbour hardly have wounds, they are happy. Through the proceeds that we get from selling welfare-friendly materials to donkey owners, I'm able to pay school fees for my children and also buy basic needs. My working donkey is also a beneficiary of the project. I can now properly harness my donkey.
Josephine John, another member of the Kaliluni women group.
The Kaliluni donkey welfare group members examine the Sisal peeling machine before use.
In sight: a future where donkeys smile
Working donkeys in parts of East Africa’s regions have been facing harsh cruelty from users and owners who care less about their welfare so long as they fulfill their transport needs. For them, the need for better equine welfare was alien, leaving equine wellbeing at risk with owners severely whipping the donkeys to keep up with the pace despite being overloaded.
Having noted this menace,
Brooke
and its partner organisations started donkey care clubs among school-going children in the donkey-owning communities to create a future where human beings have compassion towards animals. Through the club, school-going children receive training on the importance of animal welfare since they are part of animal caregivers at home, improving donkey welfare since they train parents and their communities on better animal welfare.
Brooke
in partnership with Caritas Kitui organises an annual talent show for the donkey care clubs, focusing on animal welfare content, which now helps educate the community on the need to create a life worth living for the working equines. The DCC children have also been using their creative sense with available resources to create mosaics, necklaces, and drawings that educate the public and push for better animal welfare.
Since the inception of the donkey care club, equine welfare has improved, with donkey owners and users showing compassion towards animals.
Caren smiles again as her donkey receives treatment
Caren is a donkey owner from Bondo, Kenya. She relies on her donkey to feed her family since it helps with housework such as fetching water and other tasks.
However, Caren's life took a worse turn when her donkey developed an ear infection, preventing her donkey from working, making her life and that of the donkeys unbearable. She had to start carrying water on her back, a situation that threatened her health. When Caren could not manage to carry water on her back, she decided to hire a donkey from a neighbour, forcing her to dig deep into her savings, threatening to render her bankrupt.
But, thanks to
Brooke
and partner organisation
Support for Tropical Initiative in Poverty Alleviation (STIPA)
for organising a donkey medical camp in her locality, where her donkey got medical attention. Brooke and STIPA qualified vets removed parasites from Caren's donkey ear, alleviating the suffering of her donkey and the trouble she had to go through carrying water on her back. The decision to hold the medical camp aligns with the third animal freedom goal of ensuring that all animals are free of pain, injury, or disease through prevention and treatment.
At least 200 donkeys were treated during the medical camp. Caren, a beneficiary, now completes her house chores, including fetching water, with ease, saving herself the trouble of hiring a donkey.
Agrovet branding eases work for donkey owners
Donkeys in some rural parts of Kenya often fail to get medical attention owing to a lack of equine veterinary services and medicine, leaving most donkeys to work while enduring pain from body lesions and other medical complications. Along the road, one notices donkeys working with open wounds while others seem sickly, with donkey owners hoping for better health without seeking medical services because of the inaccessibility of donkey veterinary services.
To solve the problem,
Brooke
, in partnership with
Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies (KENDAT)
, joined forces with strategic agro-vets to serve donkey owners among the donkey-owning communities in remote areas.
Six agro-vets in Tharaka Nithi, Embu, and Laikipia counties received training through the continuous
Agrovet Quality Monitoring (AQM)
program, which equipped them with the necessary knowledge to provide quality animal health services and advise to donkey owners and users. The agro vets were equipped with relevant donkey drugs, saving users and owners the trouble of traveling long distances to get veterinary advise and services for their donkeys.
The project also made the identification of selected agro vets easier since they were branded with visible APS material for easy identification among donkey owners, including the agro vet’s name, KENDAT, and Brooke logos, alongside donkey welfare messages.
With the branding of agro vets, donkey owners now have easy access to vet services and advise on how to improve the welfare of their donkeys. The agro vets were equipped with learning materials on donkey husbandry practises such as ectoparasite control, hoof care, home-based wound care management, and disease prevention such as rabies and tetanus for distribution to donkey owners.
Until now, the project has seen an increase in the number of donkey owners seeking help from these agro vets, playing a critical role in ensuring sustainable veterinary service provision among donkey-owning communities.
A notable change in donkey welfare can now be seen in the area, with donkeys having less or no body lesions and looking healthy.
Kenya: Homa Bay regains glow after the donkey slaughter blow
With the instigation of donkey slaughter in Kenya, its effects ravaged donkey owners who depended on donkeys to make their lives easier, putting loads on women's backs. Homa Bay County is one of the counties in Kenya that felt the effects of the donkey slaughter, with its donkey population decreasing by 4,649 donkeys in a decade. According to the 2009 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics census, the county's donkey population was 18,789.
"My life became unbearable after I lost two donkeys through theft in 2019. I used to make a lot of money before losing my donkeys, but I thank Brooke and Send a Cow for the God-sent training, which has enabled us to stay strong despite the challenges of donkey theft. With increased income from the farm, we started a merry-go-round for donkey replacements. So far, we are on donkey number five, and I hope that by May 2022, we will replace donkeys lost. - Peter Dianga"
The demand for donkey skin trade resulted in donkey theft, putting pressure on the remaining donkeys, women in the area forced to carry water on their backs during dry seasons. However, after
Brooke
and its partner organisation
Send a Cow
implemented a sensitisation program to improve equine welfare for sustainable livelihoods, Homa Bay is now regaining its glow.
Through the project, donkey welfare groups received training that enabled them to venture into vegetable farming, with proceeds from the business pooled together to replace donkeys lost due to the effects of the donkey skin trade.
One of the beneficiaries, Peter Dianga, says they could not have made great strides without the sensitisation and support from Brooke and Send A cow, after donkey slaughter ripped them off their donkeys through theft.
Apart from farming, the donkey welfare groups has adopted fodder production to ensure adequate quality feed for the donkeys and promote afforestation by espousing seedling production through tree nursery establishments.
The fodder goes a long way towards ensuring the availability of alternative feeds for donkeys during dry seasons, while trees act as environmental conservation methods to increase vegetation cover and, in the long term, bear positive effects on the welfare of donkey including shades.
Tanzania shuts down donkey abattoir
The donkey-owning communities in Tanzania are celebrating after the government shut down a donkey abattoir that has been taking a toll on the donkey population for violating animal welfare, humane slaughter, and slaughterhouse hygiene.
In a letter dated August 12, 2021 the Tanzanian Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries annulled a provisional permit allotted to Fang Hua Investment Company Ltd. in Ibadakuli, Shinyanga region.
According to the ministry, the donkey skin trade is prohibited in Tanzania until the donkey population surpasses ten million. Tanzania’s donkey population stood at 595,000 in 2018.
Brooke
and partner organisations,
Arusha Society for the Protection of Animals (ASPA)
and the
African Institute for Economic and Social Development in Tanzania (INADES-TZ)
, played a major role in achieving the ban, working closely with the Tanzanian government in a bid to ban the hide trade, which affected thousands of people dependent on donkeys.
According to the
African Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW)
, many donkeys were stolen from Kenya and Uganda and illegally smuggled across the borders.
The Shinyanga plant is one the donkey slaughterhouses established by Chinese investors in Tanzania to enable a reportedly lucrative trade in donkey skins that are used to extract gelatin needed for the production of ejiao, traditional Chinese medicine that is said to allegedly treat anaemia, reproductive issues, and insomnia.
The Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency reported that the numbers dropped from about 1.5 million in 2016 to 595,000 in 2018. By contrast, Kenya has about 1.2 million donkeys, compared with 1.8 million a decade ago, according to the latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
Challenges
Our next steps
Since its inception in 2013, Brooke East Africa, through partnerships with animal welfare organisations and other relevant partners, has been working to achieve immediate and lasting change in the lives of working equines and the communities that depend on them for rural development projects.
Although we have made great strides in achieving this, there is still more to do. Below are some of the major challenges we are facing and the countermeasures we are planning to overcome them.
Donkey Skin Trade
The donkey skin trade has dealt a blow to donkey-owning communities in East Africa. However, through advocacy meetings and working closely with the relevant government bodies, Brooke East Africa and partners managed to halt the donkey skin trade in Tanzania and Kenya, where the hide trade had taken a toll on the donkey population.
Donkey slaughter is now prohibited in Tanzania until the population of donkeys reaches ten million.
In Kenya, the High Court overturned a ban on donkey slaughter. However, donkey slaughter is still yet to resume after the Ministry of Agriculture froze the issuance of licenses to abattoirs in response to complaints from donkey-owning communities.
Brooke East Africa and relevant partner organisations are now working on ensuring a total ban on the donkey skin trade, which has affected the livelihoods of communities that depend on them.
Animal welfare laws and legislation
Enacting and legislating animal welfare laws at the county level has also been challenging. Brooke East Africa is working with partners in respective counties to push for this, as it will hugely improve animal welfare in those counties. Only Isiolo County in Kenya currently has an animal welfare act.
Furthermore, Brooke East Africa is working closely with partners and relevant government bodies to ensure that animal welfare laws are implemented and that those who violate animal welfare laws are prosecuted under the law.
Sensitization and Adoption of the Five Domains of Animal Welfare
While donkey-owning communities have made progress in adopting the Five Domains of animal welfare (nutrition, environment , health, behavior and mental state), some communities are yet to ensure that their working equines have a life worth living.
To resolve some of the issues, Brooke East Africa works with local organizations to engage communities in the development of long-term animal welfare improvement Programme that are linked to improved livelihoods and resilience.
Furthermore, BEA and its partners train and mentor animal health and welfare service providers to improve the quality of veterinary services and connect them to communities.
Brooke East Africa also works with schools, educational institutions, and the media to improve animal welfare education and knowledge in a bid to create a generational change where people have compassion towards animals.
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