Animal welfare: a comparative study of working donkeys in rural and urban/peri-urban areas of Mwingi Central Sub- County Kitui County

Abstract

A cross sectional study was conducted to compare the welfare of working donkeys in the rural and urban/peri-urban areas of Mwingi Central Sub-County of Kitui county in Kenya. The assessment of welfare was based on physical welfare indicators, pathological and external parasite infestation, and physiological welfare indicators including the determination of free fecal cortisol concentration. From a total population of 35,361 donkeys in the study area, a sample size of 396 donkeys was obtained. The sample size was proportionately allocated between urban/peri-urban and rural areas at 215 and 181animals based on household distribution in the study area. For cortisol assay 40 donkeys representing 10% of the sample size calculated were used with 22 for the urban/peri-urban and 18 donkeys for the rural areas. Fecal samples were collected once per week for four weeks and taken to the laboratory for cortisol assays by use of a commercial human Elisa kit used to determine free cortisol in human urine (DNOVO10, a product of Novatec)). The kit was validated and pre-tested before use for donkey fecal cortisol. 396 questionnaires were administered to households owning a donkey. The first part of the questionnaire captured the demographic data of the donkey owners while the second part captured data on donkey welfare parameters. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version (15.0) was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics was used to present the result in form of charts, graphs and tables. On demographics of the respondents; the study established that 67.7% of the households were male headed and that 80% of the respondents had formal education. The gender of the person working with the donkey was 82% female and majority of these had primary school level of education. The work performed by donkeys was mainly fetching water at 64.6%. In the urban/peri-urban areas majority of donkey worked for between 4-7hours per day while in the rural majority at 51.4% worked for between 1-3 hours. Overall 81%of donkey owners provide veterinary Medicare when the need arises and veterinary Medicare service is provided by government officers at 53%. Only 6.8% of the respondents used herbal medication to treat their animals. The most prevalent ailment affecting donkeys was gastro-intestinal conditions at 56.6% followed by skin conditions at 34.6%. Only 4% of the respondents provide housing to their donkeys and 17.7% of them provide mineral supplementation. On statistical analysis significant statistical differences were shown to exist between rural an urban/peri-urban donkeys p<0.05. Physical and pathological variables found to have significant statistical differences were namely, overgrown hooves (p=0.042), wounds (p=0.012), scars (p=0.00), eye discharges (p=0.042) and corneal opacity at (p=0.016). Differences in color of mucus membranes between the two groups of donkeys was also significant at (p=0.010). The study recommends that advocates of donkey welfare should channel their energies on training donkey handlers, particularly women since majority of the donkey handlers are women. The herbal plants mentioned and used in donkey treatment need further investigation to establish their ethno- veterinary value.