NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 10 – Kenya and Tanzania have been topped the latest Animal Protection Index (API) in the continent.
The East African nations were among nine countries including Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Niger, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Nigeria. were assessed across Africa based on their animal welfare policy and legislation.
Speaking during the launch of the report on Tuesday, Tennyson Williams, Director of Africa World Animal Protection lobby lauded the two countries for having Policies that protect animals and implementing them progressively.
“Kenya introduced the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act which applies to vertebrates, (1962, revised in 2012) which states: Rodeos and animal fights are prohibited, The placement of traps and snares that cause unnecessary suffering to an animal, as well as failing to check on a trapped animal is prohibited. Recreational hunting, including trophy hunting, is also prohibited,” he said.
Williams highlighted legislation in place, contributed to the good score of Tanzania and Kenya that scored grade D, A being the highest and -G being the lowest, which put the two countries at par with USA, Canada and Japan.
He further indicated factory farming, wildlife trafficking and stray animal culling legislation all came under the spotlight in a global report by the organization focusing on 50 countries .
“We aim to showcase where countries are doing well, and where they fall short on animal welfare policy and legislation, so they can take steps to improve. This could help prevent devastating health epidemics and put in place good animal welfare practices,” Williams stated.
The report comes amid the coronavirus epidemic which broke out in China and has now spread to over 85 countries, that scientists suspect has been passed from wildlife to humans as a result of poor animal welfare.
Other zoonotic diseases that carry deadly consequences for animals and humans include rabies, salmonella and Ebola, all also inherent to poor animal welfare practices.
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