Three men in Kenya from Tharaka-Nithi County have reportedly eaten dog meat and sold some to unsuspecting villagers.
The three were seen slaughtering the dog belonging to one of them, Michael Mwirigi, and dumping the skin, intestines and paws in a nearby stream.
Mr Benson Nyaga Kangori said he found the three men skinning the animal near his farm and when he shouted at them they fled towards the stream where the skin and intestines were later found.
“I was informed of the three men slaughtering the animal in my farm by my daughter who was picking peas and when I went there, they left towards the stream,” said Mr Kangori.
Speaking to journalists, Ms Kagendo Njeru, a village elder, said after receiving the information they visited Mwirigi and found some blood stains.
They said the young man told them that he called his friends who helped him kill the dog because it had been eating chicken belonging to villagers.
He however denied that he slaughtered and cooked the meat but said that he later heard that the dog skinned and eaten by some unknown people.
However, Mr James Mutegi, an area resident, told journalists that Mwirigi confessed to eating the dog meat, arguing that it was his ‘goat’ that he had reared.
“He confirmed to us eating the meat and said he would consume the remaining pieces,” said Mr Mutegi.
He said the other two men are commonly known to the locals as Bare and Nkonyori.
Contacted by the media, Mwirigi said he hacked the dog to death with the help of his friends but did not eat the meat.
“I am surprised to hear that the dog was latter slaughtered and some meat sold to villagers,” said Mr Mwirigi.
Locals have blamed illicit brew consumption and bhang smoking to the deteriorating behaviour of youths.
Last September another Kenyan man slaughtered his dog and cooked it for a meal complaining of starvation.
Questioned, John Munene claimed that he opted to slaughter his only dog due to hunger saying that he had gone for three days without food and was ashamed of always knocking doors on his neighbours’ doors to beg for food.
Munene was arrested but later released.
