Livestock Research for Rural Development, 2012; 24 (9)The recent expansion of urban and peri urban livestock farming has resulted in close contact between animals and humans, sometimes with adverse human health effects. A survey involving 119 cattle keeping households in urban and peri-urban settings of Morogoro, Tanzania revealed that manure management practices were different from traditional practices mainly due to lack of land. Manure was collected and conveyed by using tools by 94% of respondents, while others used water or bare hands. Seventy six percent of respondents collected manure from animal houses at least once a day, a feature that was associated with housing characteristics (p<0.05). Heaping was a common manure storage method although other cattle keepers directly spread manure on land. Manure was disposed of within residential area by 70% of respondents and this practice was associated with land area owned by or under control of the households (p<0.05). The current manure management practices did not protect either humans, animals or the environment against the risk of contamination with potential zoonotic pathogens and therefore there is a need for the formulation of guidelines on safe manure management practices.