Abstract            Volume:14  Issue-10  Year-2026         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

Donkeys are crucial in domestic responsibilities, income generation, and as valuable pack animals for resource-poor communities in both rural and urban areas. However, animal welfare is compromised for various reasons. The welfare of working donkeys in developing countries including, Ethiopia is crucial for their health and survival as well as the livelihoods of the population dependent on them. A cross-sectional study with a questionnaire survey of donkey owners and direct observation of studied animals was conducted from January to May 2024 with the objectives of assessing wound management and welfare practice on working donkeys in Haramaya District. A total of 384 donkey and 100 respondents were included in this study using simple random sampling techniques. Both direct and indirect assessment methods were appilied for the assessment of would management and welfare practice in the study araea. For direct assessment, a structured developed format was developed, and data was collected through direct physical examination of the studied animals. A semi-structured questionnaire was also developed to collect data on major welfare practice by interviewing 100 randomly selected donkey owners using indirect methods. Among the total 384 donkeys enrolled in this study, 186 (48.44%) were affected by different wound infections. Most of the wounds (22%) were caused by foreign bodies, followed by improper harnessing (19.9) compared. Regarding wound type and site, bite wound and incision were the two common wound type accounting for 32% and 31% respectively, more than half (53,8%) of wound were observed on the back of the animals. The analysis of this data indicated that there was no statistically significant difference obsereved among sex, age and body condition of the animlas in the occurrence of wound infection. Concerning welfare practice, the current study showed that 80 % of the study participants had poor pratctice towards animal welfare. The analysis also indicated that the type of treatment given (P-value = 0.001), using of proper harnessing (P-value = 0.001) and feeding and watering habits (P-value = 0.001) were strongly associated with good welfare practices. The high prevalence of wound infection and poor welfare practices demonstrated in the studied area has a great impact on the health and surivival of donkey, as well as the livelihood of donkey owners, requiring due attention to halt its effect.

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