Donkey abattoir accused of failure to comply with public health rules

The owner of a donkey abattoir in Mogotio, Baringo County, has been summoned to appear in court today over failure to comply with public health and sanitation rules.

Goldox donkey abattoir, which started operations in April, last year, is owned by Mr Lu Donglin. It has been accused of poor disposal of waste.

“We have been issuing several notices to the company since last September in efforts to compel them (managers) to work on their waste management and disposal of waste, which has continued to pollute the environment,” said Mr Francis Cheruiyot, Mogotio public health officer.

Mr Cheruiyot said efforts to compel the company to comply with sanitation regulations have proved futile, forcing his office to seek intervention from the court.

“We gave them a final notice in April to work on their sanitation but, again, they failed even after requesting for more time to ship in equipment that would help in addressing the challenges,” he said.

When contacted, Mr Lu said the company had worked on the matter, and had installed machines for crushing bones, which was a major contributor to the foul smell emanating from the slaughterhouse. He said most of the products were currently being exported after value addition.

“We have done almost everything which authorities had recommended, including grinding the bones to make bone meal, crushing hooves for export, proper disposal of blood and proper disinfection to reduce the smell,” Lu said.

He said the company had submitted an environmental mitigation and assessment report to major stakeholders, including National Environment Management Authority and the Ministry of Livestock, detailing the achievements.

“After more than a month of comprehensive rectification and transformation, our slaughterhouse has put in place effective mitigation measures on environmental impact as well as addressing the recommendations made during annual inspection of the abattoir,” read part of the statement issued by Lu last Thursday.