Indigenous Zootherapeutic Healing Practices: Among The Macca Oromo, Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

ANIMALS HAVE BEEN USED AS REMEDIAL CAPITAL FOR HEALING A NUMEROUS OF ILLNESSES AND DISEASES IN NEARLY EVERY HUMAN CULTURE. FIELD WORKS WERE CONDUCTED FROM JANUARY TO JUNE 2016 INCLUDING A FIELD WORK AND VISITS TO FOLK HEALERS OR PRACTITIONERS AND KNOWLEDGEABLE RESPONDENTS. A TOTAL OF 21 KEY INFORMANTS WITHIN THE AGE GROUP OF 46 TO 82 WERE INTERVIEWED, OUT OF WHICH 4 FOLK HEALERS AND (2) TWO OF THEM ARE CERTIFIED PRACTITIONERS AT NATIONAL LEVEL WHILE THE OTHER FIFTEEN (15) INFORMANTS ARE LOCAL ELDERS LOCALLY CALLED AS ‘JAARSA BIYYA’ AND ‘ABBOOTII GADAA’, OUT OF WHICH 3 ARE FEMALES. INDEED, THIS FOLKLORIC STUDY DOCUMENTED RESOURCES OF MEDICINAL ANIMALS AND THEIR ROLE IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE SYSTEM, HOW THEY ARE CONSERVED, AND THREATS AMONG THE MACCAA OROMO IN SOUTH-WESTERN ETHIOPIA. IN GENERAL, ABOUT NINETEEN (19) SPECIES OF FOLK MEDICINAL ANIMALS (15 WILD AND 4 DOMESTIC ANIMALS WHERE 11 ARE MAMMALS, 3 BIRDS AND 5 REPTILES) ARE DOCUMENTED ALONG WITH MODE OF PREPARATION AND PROCEDURES. THE FINDS OUT THAT FOLK MEDICINAL ANIMALS USED BY THE MACCAA OROMO ARE UNDER SERIOUS RISK DUE TO EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL INFLUENCES RELATED TO DEFORESTATION, RELIGIOUS VIEWS AND THE EXPANSION OF BIO-MEDICINES. THIS SHOWS THAT AN ATTENTION SHOULD BE GIVEN TO THE PRESERVATION OF THESE MEDICINAL ANIMALS AND FOLK HEALERS SHOULD GET LEGAL RECOGNITION BY THE GOVERNMENT