Medicinal Use of Fauna in the Indigenous Medicine System of Gendewuha and Kumeraaftit Kebeles of Metema Woreda, North West Ethiopia

Indigenous zoo-therapy is one of the health care mechanisms to treat human ailments in the world. This is not exception in Gendewuha and Kumeraaftit Kebeles of Metema woreda, North West Ethiopia.  The Metema woreda people, both the urban and rural, utilize indigenous zoo-therapy which transferred from generations to generations orally and provided by indigenous practioners/healers, elders and any ordinary knowledgeable people. This article try to explore the indigenous way of treating various kinds of human ailments by using various vertebrate and invertebrate; wild and domestic animals; taboo and edible animals. Different animals used for medicinal purposes in different ways such as meat, urine, feces, bone, skin, blood, fat, honey, milk, butter, bile,  egg , etc. Some and are used for internal diseases where as others are crucial for external pathologies like wounds and skin diseases. Medicinal animals used for the treatment of different diseases such as tuberculosis, mad dog biting, impotence (sexual), asthma, snake biting, pellagra, evil eye, skin diseases, etc. Field work conducted with purposefully selected Gendewuha and Kumeraaftit people of Metema woreda with the help of key informant interview with semi structured questions on the identification of medicinal animals, their medicinal body parts, diseases treated by medicinal organs of animals and the usage of such medicines for treatment. Further, the article explores the challenges hindering the access and sustainable utilization of animals for health care.