Police Open Fire On Armed Villagers Found Slaughtering Donkeys

Officers from the Runyenjes Police Station and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Embu East raided the homestead within Kajekeru Village.

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Dec 22, 2023 - 12:29
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Police Open Fire On Armed Villagers Found Slaughtering Donkeys
Police open fire on protesters during a past mass protest. /IBTIMES UK

Officers from the National Police Service (NPS) in the early hours of Friday, December 22 were forced to open fire to disperse suspects who dared them to a fight during an ambush mounted in Embu County.

NPS revealed in a statement that officers from the Runyenjes Police Station and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Embu East raided the homestead within Kajekeru Village.

They found a group of men slaughtering donkeys en masse, who however retaliated by charging at the officers with crude weapons.

An image of donkeys. /ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY

"Upon encounter, the men armed with crude weapons attempted an attack on the Officers prompting them to fire warning shots in the air," stated NPS in part.

The officers managed to overpower the trio and arrest them.

At the scene, police recovered 20 freshly slaughtered donkey carcasses and one motor vehicle, a Toyota Noah. Viral Tea could not publish the photos of the carcasses shared by the NPS on social media due to their graphical nature.

Other items recovered include 3 pangas, 12 knives, one bow and 6 arrows.

"The National Police Service commends the members of the public for their continued partnership by sharing information," NPS praised.

Donkey meat is not illegal in Kenya but the population of donkeys in the country has been under threat after the High Court lifted a 2020 ban on donkey slaughterhouses, allowing them to resume selling the meat and hides to Asian markets.

Donkey slaughter was legalized in Kenya in 2012, leading to a rapid decimation of the animal population and cross-border theft. The high price for donkey hides for use in Chinese medicine has led to donkey poaching and sparked fears the animals could eventually go extinct.

Although veterinary experts claim that donkey meat is safe for human consumption, its consumption is yet to gain ground in Kenya since donkeys are commonly used for the transportation of goods such as water in jerricans.

A report from the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) showed that more than 4,000 donkeys were reported stolen over the period from April 2016 to December 2018.

Back in August, police mounted a near-similar raid at Kiambu County and recovered freshly slaughtered donkey carcasses that were being prepared for local consumption.

The recovery followed a midnight raid at the scene of the slaughter in the proverbial Kiahiti village in the Gatune sub-location.

A donkey transporting water in jerricans. /THE CONVERSATION

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