Knowledge, Attitude and Practices on Working Equine Wound Management in Wukro and Agulae Weredas of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Ethiopia has the largest equine population in the world next to China and the first in Africa. Considering this huge potential of the country, a cross -sectional study was conducted on 226 equine owners from November 2019 to April 2020 in Wukro and Agulae Woredas, Eastern Tigray. The objective of this study was to identify the knowledge, attitude and practices of equine owners towards wound management of their horses. To achieve this objective, face to face interview was performed with individual equine owners. Among the interviewees, 43.4%, 16.8%, 35% and 4.9% of them were illiterate, literate, at least attended elementary school and diploma, respectively. About 46.9% of the respondents had horses, 28.3% mules, 10.6% donkeys and 14.2% had at least one mule or horse or donkey. Most of respondents owned equine for the purpose of packing (46.5%) while 34.5% of respondents use equine for the purpose of cart pulling especially for the transportation of construction materials. Majority of the respondents manage wounds in veterinary clinic (68.6%) while others use traditional medicine such as charcoal, burnt oil, crude plant extracts and salt solutions. Almost all equines worked for at least 4 hrs and utmost for 10 hrs per day with at least 2 hrs of rests in-between the working hours. To minimize the occurrence of wound and associated health problems, owners used different harnessing materials like broad rope (69.46%) and, padding material made up of clothes (62.83%). However, this study showed many of the donkeys working in the area were experiencing multiple welfare problems. Hence, a comprehensive donkey’s wound management program is important to alleviate the problem.