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.