By Our Reporter
Researchers from the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom and the Donkey Sanctuary in Kenya are by now investigating the effects of plastic pollution on animals in the East African nation.
The university and the donkey sanctuary embarked on the research following increase in the number of donkeys that are dying from eating plastic on the island of Lamu, located in the eastern part of Kenya. Scientists fear many other land animals are also being affected by human plastic pollution in the country.
The team’s full results are expected to be published later this year. However, they record at least three donkeys a month dying from colic caused by eating from rubbish dumps, noting that true number of donkeys that died is probably higher.
A lead Vetrinary doctor in Kenyan’s Donkey Sanctuary confrimed that donkeys on the Lamu island eats all sort of things, ”from plastics to clothes to cartons, everything,” says Dr. Obadiah Sing’Oei. He added that the animals are eating enough plastic to block their digestive tracts, leading to starvtion and death.
Dr. Obadiah continued saying: ”Anecdotally, if you ask any donkey owner in Lamu, they will tell you they have lost a donkey to colic from plastic. This is nothing, it’s just a fraction of colic cases that are brought to the clinic.
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”When owners bring their donkeys to the clinic it is at last resort. This is fast becoming a crisis for domkey welfare. By the time the donkey get to the vet, many of them are seen writhing in pain, struggling to breath or unable to move.
”If they come earlier, we may have been able to save them. Donkey’s surgery in the abdomen is a ‘Hail Mary’, the hardly surive it, ” Obdiah says.
A 27 year old Kenyan who owned donkeys, HufeidahAbdul Majid, lost one of his donkeys he inherited from his father in May.
Majid noted that he is concerned about the plastic issue saying, ”Before, blockages were caused by organic material and we handle that, but that’s not the case now with plastic pollution.
Kenyan Lamu island is on the eastern part of the country where donkeys are used for transportation, ferrying residents and cargo. Lamu is an old town and one among the UNESCO World Heritage sites, known for preserving Swahili culture.
Lamu is without a single car but nearly 3,000 donkeys on the island. Residents on the island relied heavily on these animals for a living and as transport in the narrow, winding streets without adequate grass for the donkeys to graze.
