Abstract
A cross-sectional study was carried out in Veterinary Clinics, Gondar town, Ethiopia from November 2011 to April 2012. Totally 416 ruminants were recorded in the clinics in which 36 clinical cases (34 bovine and 2 sheep) were operated for rumen problem. The overall prevalence of foreign bodies' was 8.6%. The non-penetrating foreign bodies have higher prevalence than penetrating foreign bodies. The commonly recovered non-penetrating foreign bodies were plastics (36.6%), followed by sack thread (26.8%), rope (16.9%), leather (15.5%) and hair (4.2%). The penetrating foreign bodies were wires (51.9% commonly occurred), followed by nail (37.0%) and needles (11.1%). The common clinical symptoms observed were recurrent bloat (34.8%), suspended rumination (17.4%), scanty feces (10.9%), anorexia (8.7%), rough hair coat (6.5%) and distended abdomen (21.7%). Outcome of this rumenotomy studies were significantly associated with relation to the quantities of foreign bodies recovered. Out of 36 animals operated 24 were well recovered, 4 faced postoperative complication and 8 died. Adult female animals were more affected than younger and male. The present study revealed that inappropriate solid wastes disposed in the study area not only pollute the environment but also have adverse effects on healthy ruminants. In conclusion, detection of the foreign bodies in fore stomach suggested as health risk to ruminants. Therefore, appropriate solid waste disposal system need to implement in the study area to prevent health risk of ruminants and also to protect the environment.
Highlights
Environmental pollution is one of the growing problems for grazing animals due to absence of recycling industries, cleaning of environment cultures, improper disposal of plastic bags; free grazing animals eat plastic bags especially in towns and villages
Prevalence of foreign body ingestion such as plastic bags and other indigestible materials found in ruminants could pose serious health problem among free grazing animals (Abebe and Nuru, 2011)
The solid environmental pollution in the study area are plastic bags commonly used as storing wastes, shopping bags, packaging food and other items
Summary
Environmental pollution is one of the growing problems for grazing animals due to absence of recycling industries, cleaning of environment cultures, improper disposal of plastic bags; free grazing animals eat plastic bags especially in towns and villages. These plastic bags are indigestible and their accumulation in the rumen of grazing animals may lead to adverse effect on health (Ghurashi et al, 2009); plastic bags resist to biodegradation and pollute for decades and centuries and pose great risk to human health and environment (Ramaswamy and Sharma, 2011). Adult dairy cattle are most commonly affected because of their more exposure (Radostits et al, 2007)
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