On June 15th, the NPS shared a tweet regarding the wrong transportation of animals. Twitter has grown into web-based news and long-range informal communication webpage where people can share views on different matters from across the globe. A 14-seater matatu was spotted by a citizen carrying chicken on top and in the open. In a statement written on Twitter, this is what the NPS had to say about the matter in a tweet;
“Cruelty to animals. UNACCEPTABLE. And it’s a violation of the law. Traffic officers to be tough on this level of open and blatant cruelty. It’s also an eyesore.”
In 2012, the Kenyan parliament revised a law passed in 1983 regarding the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The law states that cruelty towards an animal, both domestic and wild is prohibited.
‘A person shall be guilty of an offense of cruelty if he cruelly beats, kicks, ill-treats, over-rides, over-drives, over-loads, tortures, infuriates, or terrifies any animal,’ states the law.
‘Any person guilty of an offense of cruelty shall be liable to a fine not exceeding Kshs. 3,000 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months, or to both,’
The new law is broader and aims to control the treatment of animals, including their use in experiments. These include committing violence on an animal, overworking it while unwell, starvation, denial of water, abandonment, and poisoning. The law also prohibits careless surgery procedures, hunting and killing cruelly, and prolonging the life of an animal in great pain.
It also prohibits the placement of traps and snares that cause unnecessary suffering to an animal and failing to check on a trapped animal, as well as willfully poisoning animals. It also outlaws the training of an animal in a cruel manner that inflicts pain and terror including the use of whips, goads, and electrical shocks.
Performing acts of entertainment where an animal is made to suffer including fighting or cruelly hawking animals is also illegal. Animal rights are respected globally.