Mumbai: As the Gadhimai Festival comes to an end, animal activists save over 700 animals from being slaughtered at the world’s largest animal sacrifice festival. However as thousands of animals were beheaded at the festival, which occurs once every five years, animal rights organisations have demanded the Nepal government to make this year’s festival the last where animals are killed.
Held every five years in the Bara district of Nepal, Gadhimai is the world’s largest animal sacrifice event, where around 5 lakh animals, including buffalo, goats, pigs, pigeons and chickens, are beheaded as sacrifice to appease the goddess Gadhimai. A significant proportion of the animals killed at the festival are illegally transported into Nepal from India, with a large percentage coming from the state of Bihar.
Gadhimai sacrifice day Dec 8 | Photo Credit: Amit Machamasi For HSI/India
The Free Press Journal had reported about the resentment among animal rights activists regarding the Gadhimai Festival and is actively campaigning to end the tradition of killing animals for religious means. However, the two-day animal sacrifice ritual ended on Monday and witnessed sacrifice of around 6,000 buffaloes and other small animals. Estimates from buffalo entry receipts and eyewitness accounts are that between 2.50 lakh to 5 lakh animals could have been slaughtered across the two days.
Activists and Border Forces Unite to Rescue Animals Bound for Gadhimai Sacrifice Festival | Photo Credit: HSI/India
Sacrificing buffaloes is considered to be an offering of highest order and therefore it is carried out with special preparations. While other animals are beheaded in an unorganised manner, buffaloes are beheaded in a seperate arena after devotees procure receipts for it. Although 4,200 receipts have been issued for buffalo sacrifice, animal activists on ground believe that the actual figure of animals killed at the festival could be around 6,000.
Animal charities Humane Society International/India, People for Animals, Sneha’s Care and the Federation of Animal Welfare of Nepal condemned the mass animal sacrifice as “an appalling bloodbath”. These organisations urged the Nepali government to take action to make this the last Gadhimai festival where animals are killed.
The Free Press Journal had also reported that volunteers from HSI/India and PFA had joined hands with the border forces and deployed teams to the Indo-Nepal border checkpoints more than a week prior to the sacrifice to rescue animals being transported to Nepal for being sacrificed at the festival. The activists rescued buffaloes from the back of trucks, goats smuggled in scarves on the back of motorbikes, chickens strung upside by their feet on the side of vehicles and baskets and boxes of pigeons.
The combined efforts of animal activists and the border forces saved the lives of more than 700 animals including 69 buffaloes, 325 goats, 328 pigeons and 2 chickens. The newborn and infant goats needing immediate or specialist treatment will receive life-long care at Happy Home Sanctuary run by HSI/India’s partners PFA Uttarakhand. Moreover, permanent homes are being found for the buffaloes and chickens while the pigeons have been safely released back into the wild.
Activists and Border Forces Unite to Rescue Animals Bound for Gadhimai Sacrifice Festival | Photo Credit: HSI/India
Arkaprava Bahar, HSI/India’s senior manager of campaigns, who led animal rescue efforts at the border, said: “These animals have been put through exhausting journeys, many weak from lack of food, water and rest, only to be thrust into the mayhem of Gadhimai where all around them they see other animals being slaughtered. We urge the government of Nepal to take decisive action to ensure that in future we have a bloodless Gadhimai.”
Sneha Shrestha, founder of Sneha’s Care and president of the Federation of Animal Welfare of Nepal, said that the festival management committee increased the height of the wall around the compound area where the sacrifices take place and deployed police forces around the compound.
“The local government has been intimidating journalists, NGOs and anyone calling for a stop to the sacrifice, violating the rights to free communication. The local government along with the central government has also failed to support the campaign as promised. The government in Nepal has had five years to comply with the Supreme Court judgment banning sacrifice but it has failed to take any action and instead has promoted the sacrifice,” added Shreshtha.
