Bray Tell: Where have all the Donkeys gone?

The humble, hardworking donkeys are vanishing in India. A recent study has revealed that donkey population declined by 61% in India between 2012 and 2019.

The study by Brooke India, a chapter of the United Kingdom-based international equine charity Brooke, has cited reduced utility, theft, illegal slaughtering and decreasing grazing land as major reasons for dwindling donkey numbers.

Field visits and interviews for the study were conducted in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, where a major decline in donkey population has been witnessed between 2012 and 2019, as per the livestock census.

It said Maharashtra witnessed a 50 per cent decrease in its donkey population in the eight-year period while Andhra Pradesh registered 53 per cent fall in donkey population.

Rajasthan saw a fall of 71 per cent in these eight years, Gujarat registered 71 per cent fall, Uttar Pradesh nearly 72 per cent and Bihar registered a decline of 47 per cent in the population of donkeys between 2012 and 2019, the study said.

Increasing literacy rate, mechanisation at brick kilns and adoption of mules instead of donkeys for transportation purpose are also among the reasons for their decline, the study noted.

The porous Nepal border and donkey fair, too, deny the perception that the country is free from the fangs of illegal donkey killings, it said.

The study found that the illegal export of live donkeys, their hides and meat is being carried out across borders via easily accessible routes.