India's donkey population drops 61 per cent in 8 years

Maharashtra saw a 39.69 pc drop in donkey population between 2012 and 2019. Pic/AFP

Reduced utility, theft, illegal slaughtering and decreasing grazing land are among the reasons for a 61 per cent decline in the population of donkeys between 2012 and 2019, according to a new study. The study by Brooke India (BI), a chapter of the United Kingdom-based international equine charity Brooke, was aimed to understand the existence of the donkey hide trade in India.

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

It said Maharashtra witnessed a 39.69 per cent decrease in its donkey population in the eight-year period while Andhra Pradesh registered 53.22 per cent fall in donkey population. 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.

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