Donkey herds are dwindling as hungry Venezuelans slaughter them for food
Over the past three years, the herds have shrunk dramatically as thousands of burros have been slaughtered for their meat by Venezuelans suffering through a near-famine.
HERNAN LUGO GALICIA: ‘A few years ago, there were so many donkeys, or burros, in the Venezuelan state of Falcón that they were a problem — herds everywhere, causing highway crashes and blocking airport runways. But over the past three years, the herds have shrunk dramatically as thousands of burros have been slaughtered for their meat by Venezuelans suffering through a near-famine… The collapse of the Venezuelan economy is radically changing the eating habits in the oil-producing country, where large sectors of the population are being forced to pick through garbage and slaughter domestic animals to sate their hunger…
The burros’ disappearance in Falcón has set off alarms among authorities in the state, where it had prospered after it was declared a protected species and was used by residents only to carry cargo or to plow agricultural lands. “From 2015 to today, 2018, the burros disappeared,” said opposition parliament deputy Eliézer Sirit. His fellow deputy, Luis Stefaneli, said burro was not part of the traditional Venezuelan diet, like in China, Spain and parts of Latin America… He added that the idea of eating burro meat was introduced by Cuban medical personnel who arrived in Venezuela under the bilateral cooperation agreement known as Barrio Adentro’. SOURCE…
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