The Gateway to Farm Animal Welfare is designed to provide a reliable information conduit on legislation and research findings in the sector, as well as on animal welfare standards, practices and policies.

Herd of indigenous African cattle

It will provide an important forum for animal welfare issues related to activities such as transport, slaughter and pre-slaughter management, animal husbandry handling and the culling of animals for disease control.

Livestock production accounts for 40 percent of the value of world agricultural output and products of animal origin provide one-third of humanity’s protein intake.

Animals also contribute income, social status and security to roughly one billion people, including many of the world’s poor.
Since the 1990s, the centre of gravity for livestock production has moved from north to south and a few developing countries have emerged as powerful new players on the global scene.

The development is set to improve animal health, increase livestock production and response to natural disasters where animals are involved as the portal meets a real information need in this extremely important area.

By giving less economically developed country governments, professionals and producers online access to the latest information and the opportunity to contribute information relevant to their own situation, the portal will help to improve livestock welfare, health and productivity worldwide.

Compliance with animal welfare standards can open access to international markets for products from less economically developed countries.

The portal that will also offer on-line conferences and seminars, has been developed in collaboration with key international partners in animal welfare.

zebra caught in wire snare

The study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) headquartered in Kenya says the losses were as high as 95 percent for giraffes, 80 percent for warthogs, 76 percent for hartebeest and 67 percent for impala. The lead author of study, Joseph Ogutu explained: “the situation we documented paints a bleak picture and calls for urgent and decisive action if we want to save this treasure”. The phenomenon could herald disaster for the local tourism industry.

While stating that the study offers the best evidence that wildlife losses in the reserve are widespread and substantial, Ogutu cautioned that the trends are likely to increase as a result of the rapid expansion of human populations and settlements on lands adjacent to the reserve. The study lists the main reasons for the decline, which are the encroachment of wildlife grazing by the local communities and poaching for food and profit.

Wire Snare that caught and immobilized this zebra being cut off

However, there is a gleam of hope. The Maasai Mara National Reserve generates significant revenue from tourism and with proper planning, it is possible to invest in evidence based approaches that can protect wildlife populations as well as cater for the welfare of local pastoral communities whose role in the conservation of this treasure is critical.

Elephant with Cub

In Kenya for the last few years, pastoral communities have had to endure losses worth thousands of dollars as long famine spells persisted. With scarce water and little pasture having been consumed by the scorching sun in the semi arid areas, pastoral communities witness their livestock starve until they drop dead.
As a result of this painful experience, the pastoralists had to think of viable survival means, which led them to the expansive wildlife ranches and reserves with plenty of grass. The danger from wild animals to the herders and their livestock was far outweighed by the much needed pasture.
The well fed livestock have reproduced and their population in this ranches and reserves increased leading to overgrazing. Though livestock has survived, the overgrazing has occasioned a new threat to the survival of other wild animals.
According to a new study published in an online journal, overgrazing by livestock poses a greater danger to elephants more than poaching. The six year study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that climate change and human encroachment on wildlife space are threatening the already endangered elephant.
Thure Cerling, leader of the study carried out by the University of Utah says, “Fifteen years ago, there was a lot of poaching in the area, and elephants were getting killed, but since then, security has improved considerably, so people are moving in with cattle. Now there’s a suggestion the elephants are finding it harder to compete with the cattle than with the poachers.”
Following a family of three elephants in the Samburu and Buffalo Springs national reserves the team found that for the animals to reproduce, they need to alternate between eating a diet of grass and shrubs.
Two weeks after the rains begin, an elephant, the study says, usually switches to a grass diet to bulk up for pregnancy and birth. But the team observed that when seasons changed and there was prolonged drought or livestock had fed on the early grass, the elephants did not conceive.
The study also showed an intricate interplay in the timing of the rainy season, the growth of grass and when the elephants breed and give birth.
Five weeks after the rains start, when the proportion of grass in the elephants’ diet reaches maximum levels, females in the 800-member Samburu-Buffalo Springs elephant population are most likely to conceive.
The elephants give birth 22 months after conception, with the peak of births just in time for another rainy season to provide water and grass for offspring.
According to Cerling, the study leader “It is clear that the grass provides nutrients that the elephants presumably need for successful reproduction,”

Elephant with Ivory

A latest conservation study notes 681 of 701 elephant tusks sold in the US in 2007, came from Africa. The Study titled Ivory Markets in the US by conservationists Esmond Martin and Daniel Stiles say the quantity could be higher as it is difficult to track down the movement of ivory from Africa. Zimbabwe took the lead followed by Tanzania, South Africa and Botswana.

“Tusks from Africa are first sent to a third country; tracking the movement is very difficult,” says the report. This is the latest published data since the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) conference in The Hague, The Netherlands, allowed the Southern African elephant range states a one-off sale of their ivory stockpiles in 2007.

The partial downgrading of the elephant from the category of species threatened with extinction is perceived to have triggered an upsurge in poaching. However, going by recent developments in Kenya, the threat against the Jumbo’s does not stop there.

According to Kenya Government records, regions where Chinese contractors are building roads are prone to poaching. The Chinese embassy in Kenya complained of perceived ethnic profiling of their nationals following information by wildlife authorities in Kenya estimating that foreign contractors killed 80 elephants last year. Apart from China, other Ivory leading markets in the world include Japan and the US.

The upsurge in poaching is also blamed on lax surveillance and porous borders with Tanzania. “We have difficulties in protecting our wildlife species, especially the elephant and the rhino. Tanzania lacks the equipment and technical know-how to track their stocks. They are also indifferent to appeals for joint operations in game parks to keep poachers off. They believe their elephant stocks are stable, but their rhino numbers have declined to less than 40, which speaks volumes about the level surveillance,” a Kenya wildlife security officer, who declined to be identified, said.

A donkey overcome by the load it's being forced to pull

Hundreds of millions of poor people depend on these animals for their livelihoods. They transport everything from people, produce and building materials to food, water and even fuel.

They are the key means by which the agriculture and food distribution systems in poor nations function. They enable crops to be sown, to be transported from field to market and from market to home.

Donkeys’ assistance in traditionally time consuming and arduous domestic chores like fetching water from often distant sources and gathering firewood helps give women and their daughters more time and opportunity to earn extra money for community involvement. This is an important aspect of raising female status.

‘For us women a donkey should be our first friend for it takes away the loads that used to crush our backs’ said a woman participant in Limuru, Kenya during a donkey Humane Education campaign by Africa Network for Animal Welfare.

Welfare

Donkey pulling overloaded cart, bruised, with visible injuries

Even as the working animals become more important in developing countries to alleviate poverty, assure food security and promote self reliance, their welfare continues to deteriorate in the hands of brutal, crude and careless owners and users.

The working animals are overworked and endure whipping to force them to walk faster with heavy loads on the rough terrain and high slopes. They are made to work even when they have injuries that include swollen necks due to overloading/overworking and wounded backs as a result of whipping.

They go for years without a visit to the vet. The many hours spent working is rarely compensated by sufficient feeding and rest. In essence all their five freedoms are abused with impunity.

Could owners and users of working animals STOP THIS WICKEDNESS? Humane Education by animal welfare organizations in Africa is key to influencing these much needed attitude change. This will ensure that animals are respected and treated humanely as sentient beings.

Donkeys pulling a cart laden with building stones

African Cows

Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) findings show that effect of livestock production on global warming is more than all the world’s cars, buses, planes and trains combined.

The biological reality according to FAO findings is that ruminants– cows and sheep– generate a powerful greenhouse gas (methane) through their normal digestive process.

Second, no matter the farming method, livestock makes manure that produces nitrous oxide. Compared to CO₂ nitrous oxide is 296 times more powerful at trapping heat while methane is 23 times more powerful. Simply put, our lifestyle and what we put on the plate will accelerate or decelerate global warming.

Could we then as a nation eat a lot less meat and encourage our pastoral communities to cut down on their livestock numbers so as to put brakes on the climate change? Frankly, vegetarianism looks inevitable in the near future.

An Africa Cow burnt during Kenya's Post-Election violence

The Island of peace was Kenya’s most credible identify until the 2007 post election violent acts engulfed the country. The identity was indeed deserved as Kenyans enjoyed relative peace in a volatile Horn of Africa region.

However, the scale and speed of the politically instigated conflicts in January 2008 could have shocked foreigners but not level-headed Kenyans. This was a culmination of the failure by our leaders to fairly and squarely address such occurrences in 1992 and 1997 as well as the root causes.

By the time calm was restored across the country, the violence had claimed the precious lives of over 1,300 people and left about 500,000 homeless. The heartless acts during that period left every Kenyan a victim.

At the height of the crisis, several humanitarian agencies speedily moved in to safeguard the welfare of victims. Besides trauma, the victims testified that their basic needs were well catered for by the humanitarian agencies led by the competent Kenya Red Cross.

Initially, all humanitarian efforts were focused on human beings. Little or no regard was to their prestigious properties like the animals they reared. In fact, a suggestion to consider a cow, donkey, dog, pig, cat etc in the humanitarian plans would sound awkward if raised at any forum discussing the plight of the victims.

As a matter of fact, animals equally suffered if not more than human beings during the crisis. While it was risky to freely move around especially in the hard hit Rift Valley Province, Africa Network for Animal Welfare officers put their lives in line for a fact finding mission on the state of the welfare of animals.

The mission was almost impossible. Even the well established government administration structures could not offer help while very scanty information was available from humanitarian agencies. For the love of animals, the zeal and zest for the ANAW officers helped to keep hope alive. The situation now demanded change of strategy. The strategy was to conduct surveys in the Internally Displaced Persons- IDP Camps.

The first IDP camp to visit was Timboroa. On inquiry, the people demanded that dogs must be killed because they were scavenging on their food and dog bites had become rampant. The IDPs were also angry that the stray dogs killed their sheep, goats and calves. The second visit was at Eldoret IDP camp where hundreds of livestock were confined with over 20, 000 people in a camp. Disease outbreaks with several animal deaths had been reported as well as zoonotic disease infections.

Burnt Forest was the third camp and here the situation was worse. Several animals had serious ban and cut injuries reportedly inflicted by assailants. Tick related diseases had taken toll and livestock theft was rife.

The fact finding mission took the ANAW team to a total of 7 IDP camps helping get the gist of the challenge that lay ahead. The animals had insufficient feed as the January scorching sun kept the fields dry, violent rioters had looted or set ablaze most of the Agrovet shops, several veterinary professionals had been displaced while others were curtailed by the animosity amongst different communities. All these factors had led to a total collapse of the animal health services.

The findings called for an emergency response to the animals. Drugs, acaricide, feed, personnel and equipments were needed to launch a meaningful intervention to the plight of the animals. Armed with all the facts, ANAW swung into action mobilizing both resources and stakeholders in animal welfare for the worthy cause.

The first visit was from 24th through 27th February 2008 comprising a team from ANAW, Kenya Society for the Protection and Care of Animals-KSPCA and government vets in the Department of Veterinary Services. Five IDP camps namely Timboroa, Burnt forest, Matharu, Eldoret show ground and Makutano were visited. The team vaccinated 160 dogs and 10 cats against rabies and 30 donkeys were de-wormed. Dog feed were supplied in the camps with several of the dogs receiving treatment.

Turbo, Burnt forest, and Kachibora were the IDP camps that ANAW in partnership with the Department of Veterinary Services, University of Nairobi and the Kenya Veterinary Association visited from 10th -13th March 2008 A total of 867 animals were vaccinated against rabies, treated and/or de-wormed in the three camps. These included 19 pigs, 539 heads of cattle, 210 sheep, 9 goats and 2 donkeys. Specifically, 69 animals were treated for various ailments and 88 dogs vaccinated against rabies. Those treated were: 12 dogs, 55 cows and 2 pigs. The ailments were various including eyes and wounds from burns. Bales of hay were supplied to the cattle in the camps.

The emergency response had now picked momentum and with committed partners on board, a third exercise was quickly organized in Makutano, Endebbes, Kitale ASK, Wamuini, Kiminini, Sikhendu and Eldoret ASK IDP camps. Between 19th and 22nd March 2008 a total of 883 animals had been attended to consisting of 451 cows, 280 sheep, 35 goats, 25 donkeys, 90 dogs and 2 cats.

By this time, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga had agreed to share power and plans to resettle IDPs were in top gear. Normalcy had also returned in several of the volatile areas and thus resumption of various critical services. Herds’ boys could venture out to graze their livestock.

Having secured the wellbeing of the animals while in the IDP camps, ANAW embarked on a massive plan to help the IDPs in their resettlement. This was occasioned by the realization that essential veterinary facilities like cattle dips had since collapsed while services in severely affected areas had not yet picked up. Initially, this appeared an insurmountable challenge going by the amounts of money required.

Fortunately, Dr. Luke Gamble, the founder of a charitable organization in United Kingdom called Worldwide Veterinary Services-WVS had got wind of ANAW’s noble work. Dr. Gamble readily accepted partnership and mobilized resources for the exercise. Accompanied by his colleague, Dr. Clive Munns, Gamble arrived in Kenya on 19th May 2008 joining ANAW and other partners for a 10 day exercise.

This 4th visit was more comprehensive targeting all IDP camps in Rift valley and resettlement areas. Cows, goats, sheep, pigs and Donkeys were given FMD and RSD vaccination while cats and dogs were vaccinated against rabies. Because of high incidents of tick borne related diseases, acaricides were donated to revamp the collapsed cattle dips. There were enough drugs for all animal diseases and the local government vets as well as farmers were given some to continue with treating their sick animals.

The WVS team coincidentally came at a period when the outbreak of Peste des Petit Ruminant-PPR was threatening to kill all goats and sheep for pastoral communities. After successfully concluding the work in IDP camps and resettlement areas, ANAW and WVS toured one of the PPR affected areas-East Pokot district and donated 5000 vaccines.

An issue that was unpopular at start was finally hailed as a success. It was a milestone for ANAW to spearhead the emergency response saving the lives of 10,439 companion, farm and working animals at a challenging time in Kenya’s history.

DikDik Caught in a Snare