This archive report was first published on 21 May 2020.
On a fateful day in May 2020, a man from Mbironi village in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya, left his community in shock after he turned a dog's carcass into a stew and sold it to unsuspecting locals.
Mwirigi Kang'ori, the accused, claimed he had gone for a long time without meat due to financial challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he sold some of the carcass as goat meat to earn some money.
However, the dog's owner, Michael Mwirigi, had killed the animal after it attacked and ate his chicken. He was surprised to hear that someone had slaughtered the dog for meat.
Anderson Marangu, the village elder, reported the matter to the authorities and visited the place where the dog had been disposed of. He found the dog's skin and intestines and partly blamed the incident on illicit brew business and liberal bhang smoking in the village.
Some of those who ate the meat claimed it tasted just like a goat's, while others immediately visited hospitals for checkup for fear of contracting strange diseases.
This is the second similar incident in the area, after another one was reported in Mitheru in November last year.
