Ten suspects were arrested for transporting and selling donkey meat in parts of Makueni County.
The ten were arrested on Saturday after police intercepted two motor vehicles ferrying donkey meat.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the donkey meat was on transport to Shauri Moyo Market in Nairobi, police said.
After interrogating the suspects, police successfully identified the location where the donkeys were slaughtered.
A multi-agency team of NPS Officers and Public Health Officers later visited the slaughter scene and retrieved 25 skinned heads and several hooves of donkeys from a pit within a homestead of one of the suspects.
Other exhibits recovered from the scene were crude tools suspected to have been used for the slaughter.
Donkey meat is not illegal in Kenya. Kenya’s population of donkeys is 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.
Although Veterinary experts say donkey meat is safe for human consumption, its consumption is yet to gain ground in Kenya.
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.
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