Background: Traditional healers are sought after for the treatment of animal poisons in the tribal regions across the world. Centre for Traditional Medicine and Research (CTMR) documented these practices in the erstwhile Salem dis-trict. The objective of the study was to explore the ethnobotanical knowledge of the traditional healers in the treatment of animal poisons. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out over a period of two years 2009-2011 by way of structured inter-views, photo documentation of plants used and process adopted for the treatment including chanting of mantras among the folk healers of the hilly regions of Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri Districts of Tamil Nadu. Out of 180 healers interviewed, twenty eight healers who treated poison bites took part in the study voluntarily and shared their practices. This paper enumerates the plants used either individually or as part of a polyherbal formulation. Results: The healers treat unknown insect bites, scorpion stings, wasp, wild spider, bee stings, snake bites and aller-gy caused by centipedes. Many times allergic skin diseases- urticarial rashes are also classified as poison bites by these healers. The healer identified the poisonous nature by the ability of the patient to distinguish tastes of certain plants. 49 species of medicinal plants were used by the healers, with most commonly used being Aristolochia bracteata. Conclusion: Most of the plants used by the healers also find reference in the classical texts of the codified systems of medicine and it is worth taking up some of the most frequently used ones for pharmacological studies
