High Court Okays Slaughtering of Donkeys in Kenya

The High Court has quashed a legal notice banning the slaughter of donkeys in Kenya.

Justice Richard Mwongo on Thursday ruled that the State failed to sufficiently defend a case challenging the notice issued by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya last year.

“The government has failed to sufficiently defend this case and this court quashes the Legal Notice 63 of 2020 as it violates the rights of Star Brilliant,” ruled Justice Mwongo, adding that the legal notice violated the rights of Star Brilliant Slaughterhouse, the petitioner.

“The legal notice violates the rights of the applicant under Article 47 of the Constitution and the applicant is granted a stay to operate in light of the failure by the respondent to file back his response.”

The petitioner moved to court seeking to have CS Munya and Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki barred from enforcing the legal notice.

CS Munya issued the notice following increased cases of donkey theft in the country fueled by the high demand for their skin in China.

Gangs had allegedly been stealing donkeys for their skin, which is used to make Chinese medicines. Chinese boil donkey skin to make ejiao, a traditional medicine believed to stop aging and boost libido.

Kenya had four licensed donkey abattoirs, the most in the continent, making it the main supplier of donkey skin to China. About 1,000 donkeys are slaughtered in the four slaughterhouses a day, according to government data.

Due to the high demand for ejiao in China, a black market emerged with criminals hired by skin-smuggling networks to steal donkeys.

“We want to stop that criminality. We want to stop that brutality,” said CS Munya during a meeting with protesting donkey owners in Nairobi.

“(We want) to restore the donkey to its rightful place in our society – that of supporting livelihoods and providing crucial transport that is not easy to get, especially for the lower echelons of our society.”

In less than three years, over 300,000 donkeys, representing 15 percent of Kenya’s population, have been slaughtered for skin and meat export, according to the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). During the period, more than 4,000 donkeys were reported stolen.

In a 2019 report, KALRO warned that the continued slaughter of donkeys could wipe out the animals by 2023 since they were being slaughtered at a rate five times higher than their population was growing.

A kilogram of ejiao currently retails at $780 in China from about $30 in 2000, according to reports in China.