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Natasha Sipindiye, Sunday News Reporter
ABUSED, stolen and stray donkeys are a cause for concern in the city as they are responsible for some road accidents, braying at night, as well as grazing on residents’ lawns as they wander in residential areas of the Eastern suburbs.
Sources claimed most of the donkeys would have been stolen by firewood poachers from the city’s outskirts who dump them after delivery of the product to the city’s residents. Speaking to Sunday News Ms Claire Einhorn, the founder of Matabeleland Animal Rescue Equine Sanctuary (MARES) said although donkeys were not a strange sight in most of the city’s high-density suburbs, they were now a nuisance as they were becoming a common thing in the low-density areas especially at night.
She said the donkeys were now common in areas like Burnside, Hillside, Fourwinds, Belleview and Matsheumhlophe areas and it is suspected that they come from as far as Matopo which is over 50km away from the Central Business District.
“Some donkeys have been found in the Hillside area, Suburbs, Burnside and even in the western suburbs like Pumula East.
Abandoned donkeys have become a nuisance as they wander around sometimes leading to accidents. They are also attacked by dogs that bite and injure them,” she said.
She said some of the stray donkeys were stolen from nearby villages and thieves conceal their identity by cutting off their ears to remove the donkey’s identification tag. Ms Einhorn said many of the donkeys were used by firewood poachers to carry their loot from the city’s outskirts.
Firewood poaching is rampant around farms and plots near Bulawayo in areas like Solusi and Rangemore in Umguza district.
The animal sanctuary director said several people were not abiding to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act Chapter 19:00 which states that any person that keeps animals in captivity; shall observe and conform to any regulations which are applicable to him, and if any such person contravenes or causes or procures or permits any contravention of any such regulations, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level five or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
“People who collect firewood overwork the donkeys and end up abandoning them. The donkeys are mostly abandoned by the wood poachers who also carry out illegal ploughing on plots. When they are overworked and no longer productive, they cease to be of any help and they are abandoned,” she said.
“The stray donkeys that eat people’s crops get punished by residents. Some time ago, a donkey was found in the Solusi area and it was axed 15 times on its face,” she said.
Ms Einhorn who runs the sanctuary for stray animals including donkeys said she had been abused by some locals as they come intending to claim back the abused or stolen donkeys.
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